Opinion
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Student Achievement Hurt by Milwaukee Teacher Contract
Opinion -Collective bargaining of teacher contracts in the Milwaukee Public Schools has had a negative impact on student achievement, according to a new study by former Milwaukee Schools Superintendent Howard L. Fuller. -
Texas Environment Agency, EPA Clash Again
Opinion -Responding to the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to make available on the Internet detailed information on the environmental performance of hundreds of producers of petroleum products, paper, steel, other metals, and automobiles, Barry McBee, -
Union Chief: Bad Teachers Just Struggling
Opinion -Responding to Redbook’s September 1997 article about “incompetent, lazy, or even downright abusive” teachers protected by unions, National Education Association president Bob Chase said that the piece did a disservice to the nation’s more than 2. -
Illinois Coalition Proposes School Reforms
Opinion -“Illinois schools are in desperate need of true reform” agreed fifty business, civic, and grassroots leaders who met in suburban Carpentersville on July 26 at the Illinois School Reform Conference. -
Suit Filed to Halt Arizona Tuition Tax Credit Program
Opinion -Although Arizona’s innovative school tuition tax credit program will not go into effect until January 1, 1998, a pre-emptive move by the Arizona Education Association seeks to abort the nascent program before it comes into being. -
Every Year, One-Half Million Students Drop Out of School
Opinion -Virtually guaranteeing for themselves a bleak future, almost 6 percent of the country’s 9.5 million youths aged 15-24 years dropped out of school in 1994-95 instead of successfully completing a high school program. -
Did They Really Say That?
Opinion -Among the misconceptions reported by respondents to the National Constitution Center’s Constitutional Knowledge Poll were these: The Constitution was written in France. -
Congressional Hearing Held on Cleveland Vouchers
Opinion -In September, the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program was the focus of a special Congressional subcommittee hearing held at the HOPE Central Academy in Cleveland. -
Cleveland Parents Are Highly Satisfied with Choice Schools
Opinion -While Cleveland, Ohio’s school choice scholarship program has been the target of much criticism from public school supporters such as the American Federation of Teachers, the families whose children are enrolled in the choice program have few if any -
Teachers Cheat in Kentucky
Opinion -Kentucky’s seven-year education reform effort, which rewards teachers with cash bonuses if their school’s test scores improve, has been marred by evidence of cheating by teachers to improve student scores, by highly subjective portfolio assessments, -
A Constitutional Quiz
Opinion -Although 84 percent of the people responding to the National Constitutional Center’s recent Constitutional Knowledge Poll believe that our system of government depends on active and informed citizens, only 5 percent could correctly answer ten -
New Poll and Paper Show How Schools Fail to Teach Civics
Opinion -A new poll reveals that most Americans lack a basic understanding of the U.S. Constitution and its provisions. While the new poll raises doubts about how well public education is achieving its fundamental mission, a white paper issued by the U.S. -
Typical Teachers Can Save Half Million in 12 Years?
Opinion -American Express Financial Advisors wanted a print advertising campaign showing how they could help those with modest incomes save for a comfortable retirement. -
Voucher Support Surprisingly Strong
Opinion -The support for school choice demonstrated by the 1997 National Survey of Americans’ Attitudes Toward Education and School Reform, released September 23 by the Center for Education Reform, is consistent with trends shown by the recently released Phi -
Fed. Standards, Tests Threaten Local Authority
Opinion -Although President Bill Clinton insists that his proposed national education standards and tests for fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade mathematics will be “voluntary,” concerns have been raised that the President’s plan will lead to increased -
11/1997 Voucher Voice
Opinion -New Scholarships Established in San Francisco In a unique expansion of the CEO America private scholarship program, the Pacific Research Institute has established a new performance-based, results-oriented program to serve 300 academically talented -
Ohio Hears Reform Lessons Learned by Other States
Opinion -Well over one hundred people attended an early September Symposium on School Finance and Reform, held in Columbus, Ohio, to hear experts from states on the leading edge of school reform. -
School Choice Progress by State
Opinion -Both The Heritage Foundation and the Center for Education Reform recently published 1997 editions of their state-by-state reviews of school choice programs. -
Precipitous Drop Seen in Illinois Reading Scores
Opinion -Although statewide third-grade reading scores on the Illinois Goals Assessment Program have dropped only slightly over the past five years, scores for other grades have suffered what State Schools Superintendent Joseph A. -
President Attacks School Choice
Opinion -Striking back at supporters of educational choice who had cheered Congress’ passage of two choice-friendly amendments to the education spending bill, President Clinton threatened to veto the entire package if either provision were included in the final -
11/1997 School Choice Roundup
Opinion -School choice news from the states. -
Responding to the Critics of Vouchers: What about the Kids?
Opinion -School Reform News contributing editor David Kirkpatrick is uniquely qualified to speak as an advocate of school choice. -
Scholarship Bill Introduced in Delaware
Opinion -Citing state spending that is now 22 percent above the national average and SAT scores that continue to fall, Delaware state representative Deborah H. -
Public Schooling Headed for Chaos
Opinion -Taking his title from a line in Robert Bolt’s play A Man For All Seasons, Stephen Arons’ insightful book, Short Route to Chaos: Conscience, Community, and the Reconstitution of American Schooling (University of Massachusetts Press, 1997), considers the