School Choice
Education
How California Can Graduate More Students: The Arizona Example
On June 5, Education Week released Diplomas Count 2008: School to College. The report finds that three in 10 students who enroll in California public high schools fail to graduate. The statistics mask a more dismal reality, but there is a way the Golden State can improve. The results of ...
Commentary
Reshuffling is not reform
Arizona Capital Times, June 13, 2008 This November, Arizona voters will decide whether 76 school districts should be combined into 27 larger, unified districts. Prompting the ballot initiative is the fact that fewer than six cents of every education dollar ever reaches the classroom. But don’t bank on statewide unification ...
Commentary
Writing skills lacking across the spectrum
RECENT results from a national student writing test confirm the lament that writing is becoming a lost art, especially in California. Contrary to the sound bites of educators, the inability to write coherent sentences is not just a problem of kids who are learning English. The National Assessment of Educational ...
Commentary
How Good is Your Public School?
Richard John Neuhaus writes that school choice is a moral issue, but that many middle-class families, with some justification, fear that vouchers would harm their own children’s schools. We certainly think those fears are misplaced, but the question got us thinking: How good are those schools, anyway? The Pacific Research ...
Commentary
California Dropout Study Sparks Controversy
A study of California’s high school dropout rate has sparked a debate about the merits of nontraditional schools. According to the study, 41 percent of California’s dropouts come from nontraditional schools such as charter and alternative schools, which educate 12 percent of the state’s children. Critics of the study, released ...
Commentary
Beware ‘less-than-best’ schools
FORBES magazine recently released another popular “best” list, this one rating the top suburbs in America. The selections derive from several factors, including school quality. The indicators, however, do not necessarily guarantee a top-quality school. Forbes’ analysis looked at graduation rates, per-pupil spending, and student-to-teacher ratios. However, none of this ...
Commentary
Home-school ruling gets failing grade
KKLA Radio (Los Angeles), April 3, 2008 Orange County Register, April 1, 2008 CA Capital News.com, April 2, 2008 The Flash Report, April 1, 2008* The Eureka Reporter (CA), March 24, 2008 The March arrest of a Los Angeles public-school assistant principal on charges of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old student ...
Commentary
California Likely to Reject Federal Options to Reform Failing Schools
With California facing a cash-strapped state budget, some choice advocates are calling for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to follow his tough reform talk by expanding parental options in education. In his January 2008 State of the State speech, Schwarzenegger touted his intention to be the first governor to use “powers ...
Education
Court Out of Touch with Reality in Homeschool Decision
SACRAMENTO – The March arrest of a Los Angeles public-school assistant principal on charges of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old student is the most recent in a burgeoning line of sexual and criminal misconduct cases involving public-school teachers and administrators. Yet, a recent California court decision would force parents who homeschool ...
Commentary
No more Homeschooling in CA?
Boy am I lucky I got orders to Okinawa instead of California. It was really a choice between the two. If you haven’t read by now, “The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have ...
How California Can Graduate More Students: The Arizona Example
On June 5, Education Week released Diplomas Count 2008: School to College. The report finds that three in 10 students who enroll in California public high schools fail to graduate. The statistics mask a more dismal reality, but there is a way the Golden State can improve. The results of ...
Reshuffling is not reform
Arizona Capital Times, June 13, 2008 This November, Arizona voters will decide whether 76 school districts should be combined into 27 larger, unified districts. Prompting the ballot initiative is the fact that fewer than six cents of every education dollar ever reaches the classroom. But don’t bank on statewide unification ...
Writing skills lacking across the spectrum
RECENT results from a national student writing test confirm the lament that writing is becoming a lost art, especially in California. Contrary to the sound bites of educators, the inability to write coherent sentences is not just a problem of kids who are learning English. The National Assessment of Educational ...
How Good is Your Public School?
Richard John Neuhaus writes that school choice is a moral issue, but that many middle-class families, with some justification, fear that vouchers would harm their own children’s schools. We certainly think those fears are misplaced, but the question got us thinking: How good are those schools, anyway? The Pacific Research ...
California Dropout Study Sparks Controversy
A study of California’s high school dropout rate has sparked a debate about the merits of nontraditional schools. According to the study, 41 percent of California’s dropouts come from nontraditional schools such as charter and alternative schools, which educate 12 percent of the state’s children. Critics of the study, released ...
Beware ‘less-than-best’ schools
FORBES magazine recently released another popular “best” list, this one rating the top suburbs in America. The selections derive from several factors, including school quality. The indicators, however, do not necessarily guarantee a top-quality school. Forbes’ analysis looked at graduation rates, per-pupil spending, and student-to-teacher ratios. However, none of this ...
Home-school ruling gets failing grade
KKLA Radio (Los Angeles), April 3, 2008 Orange County Register, April 1, 2008 CA Capital News.com, April 2, 2008 The Flash Report, April 1, 2008* The Eureka Reporter (CA), March 24, 2008 The March arrest of a Los Angeles public-school assistant principal on charges of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old student ...
California Likely to Reject Federal Options to Reform Failing Schools
With California facing a cash-strapped state budget, some choice advocates are calling for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to follow his tough reform talk by expanding parental options in education. In his January 2008 State of the State speech, Schwarzenegger touted his intention to be the first governor to use “powers ...
Court Out of Touch with Reality in Homeschool Decision
SACRAMENTO – The March arrest of a Los Angeles public-school assistant principal on charges of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old student is the most recent in a burgeoning line of sexual and criminal misconduct cases involving public-school teachers and administrators. Yet, a recent California court decision would force parents who homeschool ...
No more Homeschooling in CA?
Boy am I lucky I got orders to Okinawa instead of California. It was really a choice between the two. If you haven’t read by now, “The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have ...
