Displaying 17191-17220 of 17817 results
Commentary
6.27.2002

A liberal case for parental control in education

Many in the academic world don't like private schools because they believe that society has a duty to develop citizens who are fully autonomous, and they embrace the idea of our nation's public schools preparing students to reflect critically on the traditions they are taught by their parents.

Commentary
6.27.2002

The Zelman Decision and Beyond

Michael Heise

After decades of often animated conjecture and debate, the Supreme Court concluded in Zelman that Cleveland's publicly-funded voucher program is constitutional. The Court's long-awaited decision is good news for choice advocates in general and thousands of low-income Cleveland school children in particular.

Commentary
6.27.2002

SAT to dump analogies, add essay

The College Board yesterday approved a bunch of changes to the SAT that were spurred by a threat that the University of California system would drop the SAT as an admissions requirement. Last year, UC President Richard Atkinson criticized the SAT for not reflecting high school curricula and offering an advantage to students who can afford expensive test prep courses.

Commentary
6.19.2002

More students eligible for vouchers in Florida after 10 schools fail

The Florida "exit voucher" program that allows students in failing public schools to transfer to private schools at public expense will expand this year. Last week, 10 Sunshine State schools received their second F rating in four years, which makes their pupils-roughly 8,900 in all-eligible for the voucher program.

Commentary
6.19.2002

Another Look at How Members of Congress Exercise School Choice

Janet Heffner

A new Heritage Foundation Backgrounder contains the findings of a 2001 survey that looked at how members of Congress practice school choice. (A similar survey was conducted in 2000.) It turns out that forty-seven percent of House members and fifty-one percent of senators have children who attend or have attended private schools-percentages far higher than those of the general populace.

Commentary
6.19.2002

Why the black-white test score gap persists

Berkeley linguist John McWhorter has made his name in policy circles by arguing, among other things, that black students do poorly in school due to a strain of anti-intellectualism in African American culture that is a by-product of racism.

Commentary
6.19.2002

Overhaul of teacher certification systems needed, says Secretary Paige

Releasing a new report on teacher quality, Education Secretary Rod Paige last week called upon states to radically transform their teacher certification systems by raising standards while lowering the barriers that deter many qualified candidates from entering the public-school classroom. States and universities need to focus on bringing "smart teachers with solid content knowledge" into U.S.

Commentary
6.19.2002

Special ed from the parents' perspective

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

American parents are famously content with their own children's schools even while deploring the state of schools in general. Many have speculated on why this is so. The likeliest explanation, I believe, is that parents have an emotional need to believe that they're providing well for their kids and have made suitable educational arrangements for them.

Commentary
5.27.2002

School Reform: The Critical Issues

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

edited by Williamson M. Evers, Lance T. Izumi and Pamela A. Riley, Hoover Institution and Pacific Research Institute, 2001

Commentary
5.27.2002

Illiberal critics of school choice

While the debate over school choice tends to focus on things like whether vouchers weaken public schools by draining away state funds or creaming the best students, most such contentions can be refuted by evidence.

Commentary
5.27.2002

Beyond instructional leadership

What does it take to be a successful principal? In the 1980s, "effective schools" research introduced the idea of instructional leadership.

Commentary
5.27.2002

What's with Edison Schools?

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Dozens of times in recent weeks, people have asked what I expect will happen to Edison Schools, formerly known as the Edison Project, considering the parlous state of the company's stock price, other signs of financial woe, the gnarly situation in Philadelphia, and the recent separation of Edison from one of its first schools (Boston's Renaissance charter school).No doubt I get asked thi