The positive momentum from the “Year of School Choice” in 2011 is being carried over into 2012, with several states primed to implement major reforms. Louisiana, already a pioneer in the school choice movement, is poised to make its New Orleans voucher program available statewide, allowing low-income students attending “C”-rated …
The Weekly Standard is reporting that teachers in Louisiana plan to cancel class this week in order to protest Governor Bobby Jindal’s (R) education reform proposals, which will see committee action tomorrow. The governor’s proposals include reforms to teacher tenure, a significant school choice expansion, and changes to teacher compensation …
A newly released report by David Deming, assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School for Education, shows that school choice doesn’t just foster academic improvement and increased graduation rates—students are also safer. Deming studied data on the amount of criminal activity that occurred in the Charlotte–Mecklenburg school district (CMS) after …
As we continue demanding increased accountability to improve the struggling U.S. educational system, a new documentary being released in movie theaters across Mexico about its struggles to raise academic achievement is an encouraging step to raise awareness for a better educated and prepared workforce to compete in a tough job …
In his newly published book Obama’s Education Takeover, The Pacific Research Institute’s Lance Izumi illustrates how Obama’s education policies – particularly his push to impose national education standards and tests – create significant costs for states and are unlikely to improve outcomes for children. “As seen so far, the national …
Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s comments last week, in which he equated state lawmakers who question the Common Core national standards push with conspiracy theorists, are another indication that the Common Core Initiative is not the states-based movement the Administration claims it to be. Indeed, national standards have become the cornerstone …
Not so fast. That was the message from South Carolina leaders on Wednesday, concerned about their state’s involvement with the national standards education agenda. Despite being called conspiracy theorists by the U.S. Department of Education, the South Carolina Senate Education Committee voted to study further the impact that adopting national …
On Monday, President Obama spoke to the National Governor’s Association (NGA), using the opportunity to reproach state leaders for not increasing education spending in their state budgets: Nothing more clearly signals what you value as a state than the decisions you make about where to invest. Budgets are about choices. …
South Carolina legislators have introduced a measure to pull the Palmetto State out of the Common Core national standards. Senator Mike Fair, who introduced the measure, voiced his concerns about the state’s involvement in the national standards push in the Greeneville News: The Legislature never had a chance to review Common …
