Opinion
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Disabled Students Lead the Way for School Choice
Opinion -Opponents of school choice programs that would allow parents to use a share of their children's public education funds to pay for attendance at private schools often argue disabled children would be left behind by such a system. -
High Schools Wrongly Blamed for K-8 Deficiencies
Opinion -Everybody who is anybody seems to have decided that the American high school is responsible for the failings of American students. The Bush administration, many governors, and even Bill Gates have now called for radical reforms. -
World-Class Standards: Rhetoric and Reality
Opinion -For several years, education policy analysts in the United States have been aware of the fact that students in the Four Tigers (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) regularly outperform U.S. students, especially in mathematics and science. -
EPA Issues Cap-and-Trade Mercury Rule
Opinion -The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 15 announced the nation's first set of regulations to control mercury emissions from power plants. -
States Battle EPA over Clean Air Designations
Opinion -The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has erroneously designated several regions across the country as out of compliance with federal standards for soot and particulate matter, according to government officials in several states. -
House Approves Energy Bill … Again
Opinion -The U.S. House of Representatives voted on April 21 to approve an energy bill carrying a price tag of nearly $90 billion in direct spending and tax incentives. H.R. 6, introduced on April 18 by Rep. -
Analysis: Moderate Environmental Group Now Leans Left
Opinion -The environmental advocacy group Resources for the Future (RFF) has long proclaimed itself a "moderate" voice in the debate over environmental policy. Its supposed neutrality and authority enabled the Washington, DC-based think tank to raise $8. -
Junk Science: Kilimanjaro’s Snow Cap
Opinion -The ice cap atop Central Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro has been slowly melting for decades, and perhaps even centuries, scientists report. Until recently, global warming was a prime suspect. -
School Choice Legislation Is All the Rage in 2005
Opinion -To date, 2005 has been a banner year for school choice legislation, with at least 17 states considering choice proposals. In addition, President George W. -
Distance Education on Rise in U.S., Study Shows
Opinion -A new survey from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reveals approximately one-third of the nation's school districts offer distance-learning courses and 72 percent of them plan to expand their offerings. -
Study Shows Nevada Home, Private Schools Save Districts Millions
Opinion -A new study by the Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI) finds homeschooled students save Nevada taxpayers millions of dollars each year, refuting the notion that homeschooling costs school districts funding. -
States Legislators Group Calls for NCLB Overhaul
Opinion -In late February, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) issued a report challenging the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), strongly questioning its constitutionality and many of its provisions. -
Position Available: Independent Institute, Oakland, California
Opinion -The rapidly growing Independent Institute is currently seeking an Associate Director of Development. -
Crichton’s State of Fear Lauded in Congress
Opinion -Best-selling novels are not often praised in Senate floor speeches. Of course, it is not often that best-selling novels offer riveting discourse on important scientific research and public policy matters. On January 4, Sen. -
California Considers Stringent Ozone Standard
Opinion -The staff of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has proposed a stringent new eight-hour ozone standard for California. It would be the toughest in the nation and far more stringent than the U.S. -
Consumers Lose Round in Battle over Specialty Hospitals
Opinion -On March 8, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)--ignoring its own research and new studies showing the benefits of competition and specialization--recommended to Congress that it extend the moratorium on development of new specialty -
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Technology Can Improve Long-Term Living
Opinion -Dramatic changes in science and technology are under way. Our country will experience as much scientific discovery and innovation over the next 25 years as it did the entire last century, which will profoundly impact our concept of aging. -
New Index Provides Efficiency and Effectiveness Ratings for Minnesota Schools
Opinion -A new study by former Minnesota Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke examines the state's school districts to identify how effective and efficient they are at directing money toward educational improvement. -
Goldwater Institute Creates Public Student Spending Database
Opinion -A January 19 report from the Goldwater Institute and Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation deconstructs Arizona's school funding formulas and translates them into per-student amounts every Arizonan can access. -
Charter Schools: Thirteen Years and Still Growing
Opinion -Charter schools--those public schools that must recruit students and fulfill the terms of a contract or risk losing state funding--continue to grow nationwide, both in number and in enrollment. -
Junk Science: Himalayan Glacier Alarms
Opinion -The winter of 2004-2005 delivered heavy snowfall throughout Asia's Himalaya Mountains, and regional glaciers are at or beyond their customary reach, according to the March 13 issue of Insurance Digest. -
Conrad Meier, Rest in Peace
Opinion -Conrad Meier, one of the nation’s leading advocates of market-based reform of health care, passed away unexpectedly on March 18, 2005. He was 69 years old. -
A Jaundiced Look at Consumerism
Opinion -The New Republic has published a major article called "Medicine and the Free Market. The Health of Nations," by Arnold Relman, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. The article is broken into several sections.