Opinion
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Table: Public Schools 2001-02: Average Teacher Salaries and Student-Teacher Ratios
Opinion -Public Schools 2001-02: Average Teacher Salaries and Student-Teacher Ratios As a % of U.S. Total Value Teacher Salary Expenditures (#Teachers x Avg. -
Voucher and Tax Credit Programs
Opinion -As new and returning state legislators reassemble in the nation’s more than four-score “laboratories of democracy,” many will be seeking ways to improve K-12 education and will want to know more about school choice options such as vouchers and tax -
Schoolwide Programs Cheat Disadvantaged Kids
Opinion -Despite research claims of dramatic improvements among disadvantaged children who took part in a schoolwide reform program, independent examination of actual test results shows no such improvement, with disadvantaged children performing poorly and/or -
Excuses, Expectations, and Learning Gaps
Opinion -One of the most significant advances in educational assessment over the past decade has been the development of the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) and its recent application by SAS inSchool as a general diagnostic tool. -
High School Crisis: 3 in 10 Drop Out
Opinion -More than three of every 10 U.S. students drop out of high school, thereby lessening their chances of becoming productive, economically successful citizens. -
Table: Graduation Rates by State and Race
Opinion -Graduation Rates by State and Race State NativeAmerican Asian Hispanic AfricanAmerican White Total Alabama 86% 79% INS 59% 68% 66% Alaska 49% INS 61% 61% 65% 61% Arizona NA NA NA NA NA 59% Arkansas INS 90% INS 68% 77% 75% California 61% 81% -
Small Schools Are Cost-Effective
Opinion -A new review of research on school size concludes investing in smaller rather than larger schools is a wise move when the cost per graduate is taken into account. -
Colorado Parents Want More Choices in Education
Opinion -A group of 18 minority parents and grassroots leaders in the Colorado school choice movement met with Representatives Don Lee (R-Littleton) and Nancy Spence (R-Centennial) over lunch in November to discuss the need for a voucher bill in the Centennial -
Adding Educational Value One Floor at a Time
Opinion -The value-added concept of educating a child is like constructing a 13-story building one floor at a time, starting with the kindergarten entry level on the ground floor. -
01/2003 The Friedman Report: School Choice Roundup
Opinion -ELECTION UPDATE California: Democratic Gov. Gray Davis re-elected. Florida: Republican Gov. Jeb Bush re-elected. Georgia: Voters replaced Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes with charter school advocate Sonny Perdue. -
Chicago Teacher Union Aims for Charter School Restrictions
Opinion -The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) lost bargaining powers as part of 1996 legislation giving the mayor of Chicago control of the city's public schools. -
Just the Facts: Test Scores by Gender and Other Characteristics
Opinion -Since 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has periodically conducted assessments to provide a report card on what the nation's students know and can do in various subject areas, and how these achievement levels are changing -
01/2003 The Friedman Report: An Advocate in Action
Opinion -Dan McGroarty always has a catchy title for his incisive works that tear apart voucher opponents' arguments and expose misinformation campaigns directed against parental freedom of choice: "Gameplan: The Teachers' Unions' Strategy for Defeating the -
Homeschooling Update
Opinion -Homeschoolers Harassed in California and Illinois Despite state laws creating exceptions to compulsory school attendance requirements when parents educate their children at home, public education officials in California and Illinois have begun to -
Questions Concerning School Vouchers
Opinion -Question: Would education vouchers solve all of America’s education problems? Answer: No, but we can’t “fix” education until we “fix” who makes the decisions about education. The people who make the decisions are those who control the money. -
01/2003 The Friedman Report: Parents Could Split Voucher Among Vendors
Opinion -School vouchers traditionally have been viewed as education checks that parents would sign over to the school of their choice for a year's worth of educational services for their child. -
Appeal Nullification Allows School Board to Kill Top Charter
Opinion -After only two years' operation under the direction of Governors State University, Governors State Charter School was considered one of the best in Illinois. -
Charter School Legislation: State Rankings
Opinion -The Center for Education Reform has developed a ranking of state charter laws, from strongest to weakest, based on how each law encourages or inhibits the development of autonomous charter schools. -
New Congress Sets Priorities
Opinion -Special education, Head Start, and higher education programs will be among the top education priorities when the 108th Congress convenes in January. -
Panel Faults Research Critical of NBPTS Certification
Opinion -Do teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) make a difference in raising student achievement? -
Rockford Charter School Paradox
Opinion -When Rockford Public Schools in Illinois denied the YouthBuild Charter School proposal, it argued the district needed no such program of choice, and also that it would be unable to absorb the budgetary impact of the proposed school--estimated to be -
Table: Children’s Mean Reading, Math, and General Knowledge Performance
Opinion -Children's Mean Reading, Mathematics and General Knowledge Performance in Kindergarten and First Grade, by Child and Family Characteristics KindergartenFall1998 Kindergarten Spring1999 First GradeFall1999 First GradeSpring2000 GENERAL -
School Choice Options Debated in Colorado
Opinion -One hundred and fifty activists, legislators, educators, and concerned parents gathered in downtown Denver on September 10 to address the question: “What’s next for Colorado families now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of school choice?
