SaddleBrooke Republican Club » Education

School Choice Lowers Crime

Andrew J. Coulson — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:15:55 +0000

By Andrew J. Coulson

New research by Harvard professor David J. Deming studied the crime rates of young adults who participated in a random lottery at the middle or high school level. The lotteries decided whether students were able to attend a school of their choice or whether they were forced to attend their assigned public school. Students who [...]

School Choice Lowers Crime is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

No Child Left Behind Waivers Surrender Education Control to Washington

Lindsey Burke — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:27:32 +0000

The Obama Administration will announce later today that it is awarding No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waivers to 10 states: Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. New Mexico is the only state that applied for a waiver and will not receive one, although the state is amending its application in order to get a second shot. The Administration argues that the NCLB waivers are necessary because Congress has failed to rewrite the flawed law, and states can’t wait any longer for relief from NCLB’s … More

The Irony of the President’s STEM Initiatives

Andrew J. Coulson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:49:26 +0000

By Andrew J. Coulson

The media tide of the past two days has carried in a great flood of stories on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. ABC, NBC, AP, Reuters, the Christian Science Monitor, Politico, the Detroit News, and others joined in. This torrent of attention is due to a White House science fair at which the [...]

The Irony of the President’s STEM Initiatives is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

Markets—Not Price Controls—Will Reduce College Costs and Improve Quality

Lindsey Burke — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:40:55 +0000

Education entrepreneurs are about to do what President Obama’s proposed price controls on higher education never will: dramatically reduce the cost of attending college. In fact, the soaring cost of college could soon go the way of the once-bloated housing market, fulfilling the predictions of many that the higher education cost “bubble” is about to bust. As the cost of attending college continues to soar, private entrepreneurs are beginning to harness the seemingly unlimited power of digital education to democratize access to college coursework. The pricing strategy of the top … More

Catholic Schools and the Common Good

Andrew J. Coulson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:52:44 +0000

By Andrew J. Coulson

One of the first things you learn when you start to study the comparative performance of school systems is this: on average, Catholic schools are much more educationally effective and vastly more efficient than state-run schools. And then you learn that their impact goes beyond the three R’s. I wrote a little about these facts [...]

Catholic Schools and the Common Good is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

Morning Bell: A Higher Education Revolution

Mike Brownfield — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:07:05 +0000

Speaking on Friday at the University of Michigan, President Obama declared, “I want this to be a big, bold, generous country where everybody gets a fair shot, everybody is doing their fair share, everybody is playing by the same set of rules. That’s the America I know. That’s the American I want to keep. That’s the future within our reach.” How did the President propose to achieve his goal? The wrong kind of federal intervention into higher education with the goal of bringing down the cost of attending college. The … More

Education Secretary Duncan Wants to Overpay Teachers Even More

Jason Richwine — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:59:11 +0000

Education Secretary Arne Duncan called for dramatically raising teacher pay last Friday on MSNBC, declaring that the current average salary (about $55,000) should be doubled to improve teacher quality. It’s a familiar refrain for Duncan, who in the same interview declared himself a “radical” when it comes to paying teachers more. Leaving aside whether the federal government should have any say in how local school districts pay their teachers, Duncan’s position is unwise. According to a recent study by The Heritage Foundation, public school teachers already receive total compensation (wages … More

Louisiana’s Plan to Empower Parents Through School Choice

Rachel Sheffield — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:30:18 +0000

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 … More

Scribecast: Kevin Chavous on His Tireless Efforts for School Choice

Lachlan Markay — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:27:26 +0000

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 … More

Senator DeMint on National School Choice Week

Ryan McNulty — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:46:23 +0000

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 … More