Public Schools
California
National School Choice Week: The Middle Class Needs Choice, too
Its National School Choice Week and governors and legislators in a number of states have proposed increasing schooling options for low-income students attending low-performing schools. While commendable, its important to point out that student under-achievement isnt limited to low-income areas, but is also widespread in middle-class and more affluent suburbs ...
Lance T. izumi
January 23, 2012
California
California Schools Behind the Curve
Gov. Jerry Brown said in his State of the State address that the so-called “declinists,” those who worry about California’s place in the nation and the world, are wrong. He pointed to areas where the state is supposedly ahead of rivals, like Texas, Massachusetts and New York. However, if one ...
Lance T. izumi
January 23, 2012
California
California voters have a choice: taxes or education?
An education analyst says the governor of California is allowing voters to make the tough choices in light of the state’s economic woes. Governor Jerry Brown (D) is giving voters in The Golden State the option of either raising taxes or having funding cut from the state’s education system. The ...
Lance T. izumi
January 15, 2012
Commentary
Private schools make changes to stay afloat
Private schools in Orange County are struggling to maintain and boost student enrollment in the down economy but are reporting that the steep enrollment slides they endured a few years ago are reversing as parents become increasingly frustrated by class sizes and budget cuts in public schools. At the annual ...
Lance T. izumi
January 8, 2012
Blended Learning
States vs. the Digital-Learning Revolution
Earlier this fall, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced that five international high-tech companies had entered into investment agreements, totaling $4.4 billion, with the state. The governor boasted that the agreements would make New York the epicenter for the new generation of computer-chip technology. However, when it comes to using ...
Lance T. izumi
December 9, 2011
California
Voters wary of teacher unions
Californians are a little schizophrenic on how they look on the state’s public schools, based on the findings of a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll of registered voters. On raising taxes, including their own, 64 percent said they would do so to “increase funding for California schools,” while 32 ...
Lance T. izumi
November 22, 2011
California
California schools failing science
The late Steve Jobs thought highly of the California public schools he attended in the 1960s and early 1970s, according to the new biography of him by Walter Isaacson. The schools must have done something right to stir the mind of our age’s genius inventor and entrepreneur. But the biography ...
Lance T. izumi
November 18, 2011
California
For Parents, School Choice Is Easier Than Ballot Initiatives
Theres a grassroots parent revolt surging in California. Parents statewide and at the local level are pushing ballot measures to overturn unpopular government education policies. While the initiative process may be Democracy 101 in action, it would be easier for parents if they were simply given vouchers to choose the ...
Lance T. izumi
October 11, 2011
Education
Education activist urges online learning at Pleasant Hill luncheon
Charter schools and online learning could help turn around underperforming campuses such as Clayton Valley High School in Concord, an education reform advocate said Friday. Lance Izumi, who is an author and senior director for education at the Pacific Research Institute public policy think tank, said many school districts throughout ...
Pacific Research Institute
September 30, 2011
California
The Conventional Jerry Brown
Common wisdom, embraced by many on the left and on the right, holds that California governor Jerry Brown is a most unconventional politician. Brown’s otherworldly attitude, quick wit, and unpredictable utterances have served him well throughout his long political career. Political observers in Sacramento are still trying to figure him ...
Steven Greenhut
September 16, 2011
National School Choice Week: The Middle Class Needs Choice, too
Its National School Choice Week and governors and legislators in a number of states have proposed increasing schooling options for low-income students attending low-performing schools. While commendable, its important to point out that student under-achievement isnt limited to low-income areas, but is also widespread in middle-class and more affluent suburbs ...
California Schools Behind the Curve
Gov. Jerry Brown said in his State of the State address that the so-called “declinists,” those who worry about California’s place in the nation and the world, are wrong. He pointed to areas where the state is supposedly ahead of rivals, like Texas, Massachusetts and New York. However, if one ...
California voters have a choice: taxes or education?
An education analyst says the governor of California is allowing voters to make the tough choices in light of the state’s economic woes. Governor Jerry Brown (D) is giving voters in The Golden State the option of either raising taxes or having funding cut from the state’s education system. The ...
Private schools make changes to stay afloat
Private schools in Orange County are struggling to maintain and boost student enrollment in the down economy but are reporting that the steep enrollment slides they endured a few years ago are reversing as parents become increasingly frustrated by class sizes and budget cuts in public schools. At the annual ...
States vs. the Digital-Learning Revolution
Earlier this fall, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced that five international high-tech companies had entered into investment agreements, totaling $4.4 billion, with the state. The governor boasted that the agreements would make New York the epicenter for the new generation of computer-chip technology. However, when it comes to using ...
Voters wary of teacher unions
Californians are a little schizophrenic on how they look on the state’s public schools, based on the findings of a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll of registered voters. On raising taxes, including their own, 64 percent said they would do so to “increase funding for California schools,” while 32 ...
California schools failing science
The late Steve Jobs thought highly of the California public schools he attended in the 1960s and early 1970s, according to the new biography of him by Walter Isaacson. The schools must have done something right to stir the mind of our age’s genius inventor and entrepreneur. But the biography ...
For Parents, School Choice Is Easier Than Ballot Initiatives
Theres a grassroots parent revolt surging in California. Parents statewide and at the local level are pushing ballot measures to overturn unpopular government education policies. While the initiative process may be Democracy 101 in action, it would be easier for parents if they were simply given vouchers to choose the ...
Education activist urges online learning at Pleasant Hill luncheon
Charter schools and online learning could help turn around underperforming campuses such as Clayton Valley High School in Concord, an education reform advocate said Friday. Lance Izumi, who is an author and senior director for education at the Pacific Research Institute public policy think tank, said many school districts throughout ...
The Conventional Jerry Brown
Common wisdom, embraced by many on the left and on the right, holds that California governor Jerry Brown is a most unconventional politician. Brown’s otherworldly attitude, quick wit, and unpredictable utterances have served him well throughout his long political career. Political observers in Sacramento are still trying to figure him ...