Public Schools
Commentary
Hey America, your middle-class schools are not as good as you think
In comfy suburbs from the East Coast to the Midwest and from the Rockies to the Southwest, large proportions of middle-class students are failing to perform well in their core academic subjects. That’s the disturbing conclusion of a massive two-year, five-state series of studies by the Pacific Research Institute. The ...
Lance Izumi
June 8, 2016
Commentary
School choice should encompass religious institutions
What do rubber tire scraps have to do with school-choice options like vouchers? A lot, it turns out, and a case involving those tire scraps that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court could have a wide-ranging impact on whether parents can access those choice options. The case, Trinity Lutheran ...
Lance Izumi
May 26, 2016
California
Courts shouldn’t make education policy
In a recent decision, the California Court of Appeal ruled that it was up to the California Legislature, not the judiciary, to set the level of spending for schools. The court’s ruling makes good sense, not only for legal reasons, but also in light of judicial history and education research. ...
Lance Izumi
May 4, 2016
Commentary
Suburban NJ schools underperform
Are the public schools serving New Jersey’s middle-class students performing well? Lots of parents think so. They believe that student performance problems are limited to low-income areas in the inner city — in places like Newark or Camden. But many suburban public schools serving middle-class New Jersey students are not ...
Lance T. izumi
April 18, 2016
Commentary
New Study Gives NJ Public Schools Failing Grade
Many Garden State residents think that poor-performing schools are confined to low-income neighborhoods in the inner city. Yet according to a new study from the Pacific Research Institute, the data show that public schools in New Jersey’s affluent suburbs are also failing. The study compiled SAT scores from predominantly middle-class ...
Pacific Research Institute
February 18, 2016
Commentary
Report: ‘Middle Class’ Schools In New Jersey Falling Short
More than one in four “middle class” public high schools in New Jersey had half or more of their students fail to reach the college readiness benchmark, according to a recent report from the Pacific Research Institute. Middle class schools were defined by the study as those who have one-third ...
Ali Meyer
February 18, 2016
California
Key Brown Education Legacy Program Comes up Short
In his 2016 State of the State address, Governor Jerry Brown touted the centerpiece of his education agenda, the Local Control Funding Formula, which simplifies the way in which local school districts are funded. Yet his key legacy program has experienced critical implementation problems and has exposed, once again, the ...
Lance Izumi
February 11, 2016
Education
Not As Good As You Think: New Jersey
Read the Study Read the Press Release Many middle-class New Jersey residents think that most low-performing schools are located in poor inner cities such as Newark, not in their nice neighborhoods or in their smaller towns. They need to think again. Based on a variety of indicators, many New Jersey ...
Pacific Research Institute
February 1, 2016
California
Admission By California’s State Attorney May Blow Union’s Case
During this week’s much-anticipated oral arguments in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association U.S. Supreme Court case, which challenges mandatory teacher-union fees, a critical exchange took place between Justice Antonin Scalia, who is viewed as the swing vote in the case, and the attorney representing the State of California. The ...
Lance T. izumi
January 21, 2016
Commentary
Statement from PRI Senior Director of Education Studies Lance Izumi on Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association
January 11, 2015 – The Pacific Research Institute issued the following statement by Senior Education Studies Director Lance Izumi on today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument on Friedrichs v. the California Teachers Association: “The admission by the attorney for the State of California that the collective bargaining contract negotiated by ...
Pacific Research Institute
January 12, 2016
Hey America, your middle-class schools are not as good as you think
In comfy suburbs from the East Coast to the Midwest and from the Rockies to the Southwest, large proportions of middle-class students are failing to perform well in their core academic subjects. That’s the disturbing conclusion of a massive two-year, five-state series of studies by the Pacific Research Institute. The ...
School choice should encompass religious institutions
What do rubber tire scraps have to do with school-choice options like vouchers? A lot, it turns out, and a case involving those tire scraps that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court could have a wide-ranging impact on whether parents can access those choice options. The case, Trinity Lutheran ...
Courts shouldn’t make education policy
In a recent decision, the California Court of Appeal ruled that it was up to the California Legislature, not the judiciary, to set the level of spending for schools. The court’s ruling makes good sense, not only for legal reasons, but also in light of judicial history and education research. ...
Suburban NJ schools underperform
Are the public schools serving New Jersey’s middle-class students performing well? Lots of parents think so. They believe that student performance problems are limited to low-income areas in the inner city — in places like Newark or Camden. But many suburban public schools serving middle-class New Jersey students are not ...
New Study Gives NJ Public Schools Failing Grade
Many Garden State residents think that poor-performing schools are confined to low-income neighborhoods in the inner city. Yet according to a new study from the Pacific Research Institute, the data show that public schools in New Jersey’s affluent suburbs are also failing. The study compiled SAT scores from predominantly middle-class ...
Report: ‘Middle Class’ Schools In New Jersey Falling Short
More than one in four “middle class” public high schools in New Jersey had half or more of their students fail to reach the college readiness benchmark, according to a recent report from the Pacific Research Institute. Middle class schools were defined by the study as those who have one-third ...
Key Brown Education Legacy Program Comes up Short
In his 2016 State of the State address, Governor Jerry Brown touted the centerpiece of his education agenda, the Local Control Funding Formula, which simplifies the way in which local school districts are funded. Yet his key legacy program has experienced critical implementation problems and has exposed, once again, the ...
Not As Good As You Think: New Jersey
Read the Study Read the Press Release Many middle-class New Jersey residents think that most low-performing schools are located in poor inner cities such as Newark, not in their nice neighborhoods or in their smaller towns. They need to think again. Based on a variety of indicators, many New Jersey ...
Admission By California’s State Attorney May Blow Union’s Case
During this week’s much-anticipated oral arguments in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association U.S. Supreme Court case, which challenges mandatory teacher-union fees, a critical exchange took place between Justice Antonin Scalia, who is viewed as the swing vote in the case, and the attorney representing the State of California. The ...
Statement from PRI Senior Director of Education Studies Lance Izumi on Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association
January 11, 2015 – The Pacific Research Institute issued the following statement by Senior Education Studies Director Lance Izumi on today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument on Friedrichs v. the California Teachers Association: “The admission by the attorney for the State of California that the collective bargaining contract negotiated by ...