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    Family Fact of the Week: A Graduation Message: Academic Success Begins at Home

    This spring, parents and grandparents throughout the nation will be misting up as the chords of “Pomp and Circumstance” play and the children and grandchildren they have cherished and nourished walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. Sadly, however, for every three high-school students who earn their degrees, one … More

    National Charter Schools Week Highlights Satisfied Parents

    Earlier this month, schools across the country celebrated National Charter Schools Week. This commemoration comes 20 years after Minnesota passed the first state charter school law and City Academy in St. Paul became the first charter school to open its doors. Since then, 40 more states and the District of … More

    Arizona Gov. Brewer Expands USA’s Most Innovative School Choice Model

    Imagine being a child trapped in a failing school in Arizona. Prior to 2011, being trapped in a failing school in Arizona meant being trapped in a failing school in a state that ranks among the worst performing in the country. But during 2011—the “Year of School Choice”—Arizona led the … More

    Wall Street Journal: Conservatives Oppose National Standards

    Opponents of national standards and tests see the push as furthering “federal intrusion into state education matters,” asserts the Wall Street Journal today. While the standards have been touted as “voluntary” by proponents, the Obama Administration’s heavy promotion of the standards—tying Race to the Top dollars to a state’s adoption … More

    Why States Should Hop Off the National Standards Bandwagon

    When “states signed on to common core standards, they did not realize…that they were transferring control of the school curriculum to the federal government,” said Sandra Stotsky, 21st Century Chair in Teacher Quality at the University of Arkansas’s Department of Education Reform, speaking at The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday. Stotsky … More

    Common Core Math Standards Fail to Add Up

    The push to nationalize the content taught in public schools across the country should be of great concern to state leaders. The Common Core national standards effort represents a massive federal overreach into what is taught in local schools, further removing parents from the educational decision-making process, and likely to … More

    What Does the Supreme Court Think About Washington’s Education Overreach?

    During the course of Obamacare oral arguments in late March, an interesting exchange between Justice Samuel Alito and U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli illuminated the Administration’s education overreach vis-à-vis national standards. Education Week reports: For the U.S. Supreme Court, the closely watched six hours of arguments last week were all … More

    President Obama’s Budget Priority: Eliminate the D.C. Voucher Program

    “Budgets are about choices,” stated President Obama in recent remarks to governors about his massive fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget request. Nothing more clearly demonstrates the Administration’s priorities than Obama’s decision to once again place the successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP) on the chopping block while simultaneously growing the … More

    Slum Dwellers in India Save for Private Schooling

    Since 2009, public education has been both free and required for all children between the ages of six and 14. Yet many families in Mumbai slums, where they lack even toilets and basic sanitation, save up their meager earnings to pay for private school education for their kids. A recent … More

    District NCLB Waivers: An Unsettling Pact with Washington

    Last year, the Obama Administration began making pacts with states that agreed to implement the White House’s preferred education policies, circumventing Congress to grant waivers to No Child Left Behind policy. Some states, like Texas and California, have refused to agree to such terms with the Department of Education and … More