According to Dr. Michael Walker Jones of the Louisiana Association of Educators, low-income parents “don’t have a clue” when it comes to making decisions about their children’s education. Last week, in an interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune, he stated: “If I’m a parent in poverty, I have no clue because I’m trying to struggle and live day-to-day.” Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) was quick to respond to Jones, who leads the state’s largest education union: The union leader’s comments are just the type of top-down, arrogant, elitist mentality that …
Few legislators have done more to advance school choice than Kevin Chavous. As a city councilmember in Washington D.C. from 1992 to 2004, and a chairman of the council’s Education Committee, Chavous was instrumental in implementing the city’s landmark Opportunity Scholarship Program. A partnership between the federal and city governments, the DC OSP was one of the first and most successful school choice programs in the country. Students received vouchers for $7,500 for tuition at some of the city’s top private and charter schools. Many schools took it upon themselves …
Yesterday, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) spoke at The Heritage Foundation as part of National School Choice Week and to mark the release of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) Report Card on American Education. The report ranks America’s K-12 schools in terms of performance and progress over the past year, as well as reforms and education policies. Senator DeMint says that in seeking to improve education, policymakers could take some lessons from the free market — a system that has served America well: “We were the only country that was …
With a growing number of school choice programs comes a growing body of research on how educational opportunity benefits students. These benefits manifest themselves in outcomes such as higher graduation rates, increased academic achievement, and higher levels of parent satisfaction with their children’s schools. Students in school choice programs graduate at significantly higher rates than their public school peers. A 2010 gold-standard evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP)—a voucher program for low-income children in Washington, D.C.—revealed that over 90 percent of DCOSP students graduated from high school, compared to just …
Joseph Kelley knew something was wrong when his son Rashawn flunked first grade. “I knew he knew his alphabet forward and backward, he knew how to count to 100 forward and backward,” Kelley said. He had taught Rashawn these things himself. Rashawn’s teachers were surprised to find out that he knew how to read; they hadn’t noticed. At the time, Rashawn was attending a public school in Washington, D.C. Kelley decided to sit in on his son’s classes to learn the teachers’ vocabulary and techniques so he could tutor Rashawn …
When the first National School Choice Week began just one year ago, the prospect of educational opportunity for hundreds of D.C. school children hung precariously in the balance. In January 2011, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship (DCOSP)—a voucher program for low-income schoolchildren in the nation’s capital—had for two years been at risk of being completely phased out by liberals in Congress, right under the nose of the complacent Obama Administration. And for two years proponents of school choice had been fighting to ensure that D.C. children would have greater hope for …
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 …
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 …
