While 46 states have jumped on the national education standards bandwagon, it’s not too late to hit the brakes. We’ve been down this road before. During the 1990s, the push to nationalize standards and testing reached a fever pitch. There were the infamous national history standards, which were so poor …
The Friedman Foundation has published an excellent report detailing the administrative bloat plaguing our nation’s public schools. The School Staffing Surge: Decades of Employment Growth in America’s Public Schools shows dramatic increases in teaching and non-teaching staff over the past five decades despite modest increases in student enrollment. As we …
Policy has real-life consequences—a fact that has been especially true for schoolchildren in Washington, D.C. For low-income schoolchildren in the nation’s capital, the Obama Administration’s opposition to school choice is taking its toll. In 2009, the future of the highly successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) was uncertain. Due in …
Last night’s debate between President Obama and Governor Romney was supposed to focus on foreign policy. It turned into a wide-ranging conversation on everything from the Middle East to American teachers. Heritage Foundation experts were live blogging analysis throughout the night. Below are some highlights from their reactions. Join us …
Almost as heartbreaking as burning books, a move by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education will rank among those incomprehensible moments in human history when we seem to be handicapping ourselves for no reason. Lifelong learners, students wanting supplemental courses, professionals, and Americans across the country interested in enrolling in …
Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) are “the way of the future,” writes Matthew Ladner in a new report released this month. While vouchers give parents the ability to choose private schools for their children, ESAs allow parents to receive the state education dollars designated for their school-age children in savings accounts …
It’s been over two weeks since the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) won out over the best interests of children. In stark contrast, however, is Illinois’s neighbor Indiana, which has reformed its school system to put students’ needs front and center. In 2011, Governor Mitch Daniels (R) put into place a …
