What singular cause could bring together the likes of Democratic campaign strategist James Carville, Republican Governor Bobby Jindal (LA), actor Sacha Baron Cohen, and 2,000 families, all under one roof? The answer: school choice — empowering parents with the ability to save their children from failing schools, thereby giving them a shot at a brighter future. Those big names came together to kick off National School Choice Week in New Orleans over the weekend, a celebration that is being echoed in some 400 events across the country in all 50 …
As the new year unfolds, governors are beginning to outline their education plans for 2012. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) called for changes to teacher tenure in his State of the Commonwealth speech: Our teachers are well educated and motivated professionals who deserve to be treated as such. Just like workers in most other jobs get reviewed every year, and are therefore able to be more accurately promoted and rewarded for their success, so too should our teachers. Last year, Virginia introduced a pilot merit pay program for teachers. This …
Like the rest of us, state and local policymakers across the country probably made New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier, exercise more, and finish those languishing projects around the house. Here’s hoping they’ll also add three education resolutions to their list. The year 2012 will be pivotal for education policy. The leadership of state policymakers will determine whether the Obama Administration education overreach continues and whether last year’s school choice progress proliferates. State and local policymakers should make the following three education resolutions: 1. Exit the Common Core National Standards …
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) turned 10 yesterday, and the anniversary is a good time to assess the toll of federal education intervention and to identify steps Congress can take now toward restoring constitutional governance in education. Eight legislative generations before NCLB, Washington first ventured into local school policy with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). The 31-page, $1 billion Great Society program funded low-income districts in an effort to close the achievement gap between needy students and their peers. Nearly a half-century later, the situation is …
We’re all used to hearing about the public school that is underperforming. But there are, without question, pockets of excellence throughout the country. Prince Georges County, Maryland, has one such pocket in Crossland High School—a public school with a passionate and respected principal at the helm. But it wasn’t always so. Less than a decade ago, Crossland was unsafe, underperforming, and shunned by the surrounding community. Parental involvement was low, and parents were even hostile toward school administrators and teachers. Enter Principal Charles Thomas in the fall of 2004, a …
In yesterday’s “Room for Debate” feature, The New York Times asks whether public-school teacher compensation should be increased. The answer we give, based on our recent report, is that teachers already receive more compensation than comparably skilled private-sector workers. If the current compensation bonus has yet to increase the quality of the teacher workforce, it is not clear how an additional raise would produce better results. Public school districts should focus on maximizing the value of their existing resources rather than spending even more money inefficiently. But why is there …
There was no lack of education news in 2011. From an explosion in school choice options to the Obama Administration’s executive overreach, the top stories included the high and low lights when it came to issues affecting America’s schools. 10. Obama Administration orchestrates for-profit university witch hunt. On June 2, the Department of Education issued restrictive new regulations targeting “for-profit” higher education institutions. The new “gainful employment” regulation restricts access to student loans for students attending for-profit institutions (like Capella University or the University of Phoenix, for instance) if the school’s …
Last week The New York Times published what can only be described as a “hit piece” against online learning and leading virtual education provider K12 Inc. Light on evidence and heavy on word count, author Stephanie Saul levels allegations of bloated class sizes, underpaid teachers, and unsupervised learning environments. Online learning meets a wide range of student learning needs, is customizable, and is unrestricted by geographic boundaries. But the Times’s piece overlooks these advantages, failing to interview, for example, the student with disabilities who can work at his own pace …
There are numerous misconceptions about the impact that national education standards and tests would have on education. But a new misconception has surfaced: that centralized standards-setting will free teachers to teach. National standards proponents claim that standardizing what every public school child in America will learn will somehow liberate education. Take Melinda Gates’s recent remarks during the Foundation for Excellence in Education summit in October: Let’s say I’m a beginning teacher in a rural area of a small state, about to teach equivalent fractions to 3rd graders for the first …
American taxpayers, businesses, and families are outraged by the nationalization of health care through Obamacare. They’re upset by the federal overreach, the loss of health care choices they’ll soon face, Obamacare’s astounding price tag, and the opaque process by which this massive legislation was enacted. If they found Obamacare upsetting, then Americans should take a look at the Obama Administration’s overreach in education. Last week, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) did just that, examining the push for national standards during a meeting of its Education Task Force. For the …
