Opinion
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Key to Literacy: Phonics and Phonemes
Opinion -After reviewing more than 30 years of research on how children learn to read, a national panel recently concluded that, to be effective, reading instruction must include teaching word sounds, phonics, reading for fluency, and reading for comprehension. -
School Boards, Teacher Unions Share Anti-Voucher Agenda
Opinion -Over 9,000 delegates representing some 95,000 local school board members attended the National School Boards Association conference in Orlando on April 1-4. Just 14 of them showed up for the Federal Lobbying Update session. -
School Voucher Politics Heating Up in Michigan
Opinion -A school voucher initiative on the November 2000 ballot in Michigan has attracted opposition from the teacher unions and other anti-voucher groups, as was expected, but the measure also has provoked a surprisingly high level of heated friction among -
06/2000 School Choice Roundup
Opinion -Arizona * California * Kentucky * Maine * Massachusetts * Michigan Nebraska * New York * Pennsylvania * Utah * Virginia * Washington ARIZONA All Teachers Fingerprinted Arizona Governor Jane Hull signed a bill on April 10 that requires all -
SALT to Sponsor Conference on Education Technology
Opinion -The Society for Applied Learning Technology (SALT®), in cooperation with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), is offering Education Technology 2000 on July 24-26, 2000 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, -
Vouchers Motivate Florida Educators
Opinion -Despite the cloud hung over it by litigation, Florida's fledgling A-Plus program already is yielding a mountain of evidence that vouchers--far from harming public schools, as critics claim--have an uplifting effect on low-performing public schools. -
WebED Aims to Revolutionize Teacher Development
Opinion -WebED, Inc., an online education company, provides K-12 educators, administrators, and school personnel with the opportunity to earn professional development credit through Internet-based courses. -
A Recipe for Making Up The Law
Opinion -Do U.S. Supreme Court Justices always think logically? Not according to school choice opponents who challenged Illinois' 1999 education tax credit law on behalf of Barbara B. Toney and others. -
Congress Stiffs School Boards on Special Ed
Opinion -At a recent National Governors' Association meeting at the White House, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge called on President Clinton to increase his administration's efforts to help the nation's special-needs children. -
Homeschoolers Want State NAEP Ended
Opinion -Arguing that the National Assessment of Educational Progress's reporting of student achievement by state is leading to a national curriculum, the Home School Legal Defense Association is organizing a coalition that would seek to end the federal -
Manhattan, Harvard Sponsor School Choice Debate
Opinion -On March 9-10, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and Harvard University's Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) jointly sponsored a "Conference on Charter Schools, Vouchers, and Public Education" at the Taubman Center in the -
NAEP Becoming an Offer States Can’t Refuse
Opinion -WASHINGTON--Proponents of limited government long have warned that the advent of national testing of schoolchildren would result in a national curriculum dictated by the federal government and a corresponding loss of state sovereignty. -
Recovering from a School Crisis
Opinion -Planning ideas developed in handling the psychological aftermath of two devastating earthquakes in Turkey last year have become part of a new Web-based crisis manager designed specifically for schools to handle crisis situations: acts of violence, -
New Studies Point to Success of English Immersion
Opinion -As California schools move into the closing months of their second year under Proposition 227, a number of studies have demonstrated that children are thriving under English immersion. -
In Colorado, Fulfillment of the Charter-School Dream
Opinion -A recent report from the U.S. Department of Education documented the phenomenal growth of charter schools, while a state-level study done in Colorado was showing how these quasi-independent schools can work at their best. -
Elian Gonzalez Case Exposes Choice Hypocrisy
Opinion -A number of commentators who strongly oppose allowing parents to choose schools for their children have nonetheless come out in favor of allowing the father of refugee Elian Gonzalez to choose whether the 6-year-old should be returned to the -
Public School Programs Empty Private Preschools
Opinion -Until recently, when parents in Hartford, Connecticut were looking for early childhood education programs, they didn't find many at the city's public schools, which focused on their traditional mission of educating the K-12 age group. -
Court: Public Schools Not Accountable to Parents
Opinion -In an important decision that will strengthen the arguments of school choice advocates, the Colorado Court of Appeals unanimously ruled on February 3 that parents cannot sue public school districts for not providing a quality education to their -
A Report Card for School Choice
Opinion -A growing body of research suggests that choice-based reforms often can yield positive results, with little evidence of making matters worse. -
Judge Strikes Down Florida Vouchers
Opinion -In a decision widely applauded by school choice opponents, Leon County Circuit Court Judge L. Ralph Smith Jr. ruled on March 14 that the Florida law authorizing the nation's first statewide voucher program is unconstitutional. -
05/2000 State Education Roundup
Opinion -California * District of Columbia * Illinois * Kentucky * Louisiana * Massachusetts Nevada * New Hampshire * New Jersey * Ohio * Oklahoma * Texas * Washington CALIFORNIA School Bond Initiative Fails California voters turned out on Super -
Wis. Choice Evaluator Endorses Vouchers
Opinion -A researcher whose credibility has been touted by school choice opponents since the early days of the Milwaukee voucher program has endorsed the use of vouchers not only to provide educational choices to poor families, but also to provide needed -
The Demonization of Parochial Schools
Opinion -In his 1979 book, Schooled to Order: A Social History of Public Schooling in the United States, David Nasaw recounts how the textbooks used in the common schools in the mid-1800s were "viciously anti-Irish and anti-Catholic. -
Blacks Leaders on a Mission for Parent Power
Opinion -More than 300 African-Americans from 26 states gathered in Milwaukee recently for an annual conference that is building a national movement for school choice and outlining reforms necessary to enhance educational options for low-income minority
