Education policy

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Is the Indiana voucher program a model for the nation?

Michael McShane | March 28, 2013, 2:26 pm

It’s large, it’s broad, and, after surviving an Indiana Supreme Court challenge earlier this week, it is on sturdy legal ground. But is the Indiana school voucher program a model for the nation? I think there are three aspects of … read more >

Society and Culture, Education

Expectations and surprises at the ESEA waiver hearing

Allison Kimmel | February 8, 2013, 1:45 pm

A rather typical group convened on Capitol Hill yesterday to discuss lessons learned from the first years of the Obama administration’s ESEA waiver plan. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee was joined by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, … read more >

Society and Culture, Education

The DC Opportunity Scholarship Program had a 162% rate of return on investment

Michael McShane | February 5, 2013, 2:09 pm

Dr. Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas and I recently published a cost-benefit analysis of the DC opportunity scholarship in the peer-reviewed journal Education Finance and Policy. The takeaway, as we noted in the National Review Online: The District … read more >

Society and Culture, Education

Uncle Sam learns his lessons

Allison Kimmel | January 31, 2013, 3:50 pm

Today, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that after two years of an impasse between the New York City teachers union and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the state would step in and impose its own teacher evaluation system. … read more >

Society and Culture, Education

A game of ‘Good Test, Bad Test’

Michael McShane | January 24, 2013, 11:22 am

Teachers in Seattle are refusing to participate in a set of assessments designed to measure student growth over the course of a school year. The MAP, or Measures of Academic Progress, is used by the Seattle public schools as a … read more >

Society and Culture, Education

It’s time to bring a culture of competition to education

Arthur C. Brooks | December 18, 2012, 11:47 am

My colleague Rick Hess has a great op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal on the irrational fear of for-profit education that too many people harbor, and the education policy bias against the private sector: K-12 schooling is a $600 billion-a-year … read more >

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan meets with new employees on Nov 13, 2012. Image Credit: US Department of Education (Flickr) (CC BY 2.0)

Society and Culture, Education

The future of education policy in Obama’s second term

Henrik Temp | December 4, 2012, 3:20 pm

America’s education policy therefore looks to be entering a period of consolidation and implementation rather than experimentation. read more >

Image credit: Clairity (Flickr) (CC BY 2.0)

Society and Culture, Education

Reaching for the panic button in for-profit education

KC Deane | November 19, 2012, 2:11 pm

The Obama administration is not known for its friendliness toward for-profit companies in education. read more >

Image Credit: firedoglakedotcom (Flickr) (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Society and Culture, Education

Fact-checking Diane Ravitch on the Chicago teachers strike

Michael McShane and Allison Kimmel | September 12, 2012, 5:19 pm

In the heat of the CTU strike where things tend to get a little fuzzy, it is important to wade through the rhetoric, and get down to the facts. read more >

Society and Culture, Education

Why we should fine chronically-late students

Michael McShane | August 27, 2012, 1:04 pm

I was on Fox and Friends last Saturday for a lively debate with Cynthia Dunbar on the merits of fining chronically truant students. A school district in Connecticut is hoping to curb its attendance problems by levying fines of up … read more >