Opinion
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Elements of a Classical Education
Opinion -While schools may adopt different forms, the commitment to classical education is marked by certain common elements: Commitment to a liberal, or general curriculum, rather than a narrow approach or one where students can evade issues; Explicit -
K-12 Voucher – No! College Voucher – Yes!
Opinion -Although Members of Congress have consistently rejected legislation that would provide vouchers, scholarships, tax-free savings incentives, or direct aid for low-income children to attend better K-12 schools, more than 115 sponsors have already been -
Poor Blacks Overwhelmingly Support Vouchers
Opinion -When civil rights organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People organize to defeat voucher legislation, they may find themselves working against the wishes of their own constituencies. -
It Isn’t the Money
Opinion -While just a few million dollars invested for small school voucher experiments has spurred some movement in the nation’s $300 billion public school system, the Annenberg Foundation’s investment of a half billion dollars to improve urban public schools -
Marva Collins’ Efforts Expand to Milwaukee
Opinion -Opening her new Preparatory School of Wisconsin last August, Marva Collins expanded her focus on excellence and high expectations to include inner-city minority students in Milwaukee. -
Court Decision Shocks New Hampshire
Opinion -In a surprise ruling issued December 17, a divided New Hampshire Supreme Court declared that the state’s current system of funding public education, where local property taxes pay for almost 90 percent of the costs, is unconstitutional. -
Gag Order Conceals NEA Influence in Washington
Opinion -The actions of Washington state’s Public Disclosure Commission belied its middle name when, after finding the top executive of the local teachers union guilty of falsely identifying his employer on more than 100 occasions, the Commission levied a fine -
Poll Supports Retesting Teachers
Opinion -Five out of six Americans (84 percent) believe that teachers should be retested regularly in order to keep their teaching licenses, according to an October 23 poll conducted for Good Housekeeping. -
02/1998 School Choice Roundup
Opinion -California * Colorado * Florida New Jersey * Ohio * Texas * Virginia CALIFORNIA Fewer Eligible to Attend State University Although more students are taking the classes needed to become eligible for admission to California’s state -
Why Public Schools Won’t Improve On Their Own
Opinion -Although many public schools are responding to the threat of competition from voucher programs, expanded private scholarship programs, charter schools, and open enrollment, most are effectively insulated from change by structural and political -
Every Subject Has Its Own Trivium
Opinion -Every Subject Has Its Own Trivium Grammar Logic Rhetoric Learning Mode Memorization Probing Q/A Papers, case studies, projects Language Vocabulary, rules of grammar Reading, writing Composition, exposition Mathematics Numbers, facts, -
Competition Spurs Public School Improvements
Opinion -A little competition goes a long way. That’s what parents across the country are discovering as a variety of school choice experiments begin to challenge the long-standing inertia of a monopolistic and hitherto unresponsive public school system. -
States with Local Control of Schools Achieve Higher Scores
Opinion -From his first-term Goals 2000 initiative to last year’s promotion of national education standards, President Bill Clinton has worked to wrest authority over public schools from local communities and transfer it to state and federal governments, -
Empowering Principals the Key to Improving Education
Opinion -Nina Shokraii, The Heritage Foundation's leading education policy analyst, is School Reform News' newest contributing editor. -
Give Environment Decision-Making to State and Local Government, Study Says
Opinion -The author of a report recently released by the Center for the Study of American Business warns that a federal environmental aristocracy has seized the reins of power to solve local environmental issues, depriving state and local elected officials of -
EPA: Simply Trying to Do Its Job: an exclusive interview with Michael Gough
Opinion -Michael Gough is director of science and risk studies at the Cato Institute, where he has worked since 1996. Trained in molecular biology with a Ph.D. -
Latest Pesticide Scare Dismissed by Scientists
Opinion -Experts in nutrition and food safety have overwhelmingly rejected a report released January 29 by an activist environmental group alleging that over one million American infants and children are exposed each day to unsafe doses of pesticides in their -
New Study Cites Benefits of Increased CO2
Opinion -Healthier forests and richer harvests are just two of the things people can look forward to if worldwide levels of the notorious “pollutant” carbon dioxide (CO2) continue to rise, notes a study recently released by the Dallas-based National Center for -
EPA Faces New Legal Challenge Over Alleged SBREFA Violation
Opinion -For the second time in less than a year, a once-obscure provision tucked into a little-noticed law has provided disgruntled members of the regulated community a welcome opportunity to drag EPA into court. -
Conflicting Temperature Data Mar Global Warming Debate
Opinion -Depending on which set of data one chooses to believe, 1997 was either the “warmest year on record” or “among the coolest years” in the last two decades. -
Alternatives to the NEA and AFT
Opinion -With its 2.2 million members, the National Education Association is by far the most dominant teachers' union in the nation, dwarfing the American Federation of Teachers with its own 900,000 members. -
Parents Turn to Private Schools in Kentucky
Opinion -Despite being the beneficiaries of far-reaching education reforms widely heralded as a model for other states, Kentucky’s public schools are losing rather than gaining “market share” of the state’s student population. -
Prominent Economist Dies
Opinion -The man Wired magazine dubbed “the Doomslayer” died unexpectedly of a heart attack while skipping rope at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland on February 8. He was 65. Julian L. -
Lawmakers Urged to Use Congressional Review Act
Opinion -Historically, Senators and Congressmen have had few legislative means at their disposal to overturn burdensome or counterproductive rules and regulations.