“The charter school movement is split over the best strategy to deal with state lawmakers resistant to further expansion of the schools. Charter school advocates disagree on whether they should be engaging or attacking their opponents in the Legislature, which is considering lifting the cap on the number of schools above the current limit of […]
“Midland School District Superintendent Nick Trombetta often begins his story talking about how no Pennsylvania high school in 1994 would accept students from the tiny Beaver County district when its high school closed, causing students to bus to East Liverpool, Ohio. That episode motivated Dr. Trombetta, who arrived in Midland the following year, to seek […]
“A divided U.S. Supreme Court severely narrowed the free speech rights of government employees in a ruling Tuesday in a whistle blower case. In doing so, the court touched on but largely sidestepped the question of whether the restrictive standard applies to employees of public colleges, in a way that concerned some proponents of academic […]
“Consumer Reports WebWatch, a reporting service from the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports that investigates the credibility of online services, has reviewed 10 web sites that purport to help students prepare for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), a key qualifier for admission to top colleges. The group’s evaluation suggests that a free site’s services are […]
“Black and Hispanic students see school as a more rowdy, disrespectful and dangerous place than their white classmates do, a poll says. The findings suggest that many minority kids are struggling in the equivalent of a hostile work environment, according to Public Agenda, a nonpartisan opinion research group that tracks education trends. Minority children in […]
“Do parents choose to home school their children because they are unhappy with the quality of local public school education? Do they choose to home school because they are unhappy with the lack of Christian values in the curriculum? Whatever the reason, parents who choose home school are focusing on the family and going back […]
“Things are bad. Everybody knows it. Our culture is corrupt. Crime is rampant. Public schools have failed. Corporations steal from their employees. Greed is a virtue. Our water, air and food are toxic. Families are split apart. And now, Big Brother in cahoots with corporations and special interest groups is telling parents the answer to […]
“Watchdogs are a welcome and necessary part of any community and everyone deserves to be watched, scholars and think-tanks included. But to be effective, watchdogs must be impartial. And to be viewed as impartial, one must diligently conduct oneself accordingly. The recently launched Think Tank Review Project (TTRP), based at Arizona State University, touts itself […]
“For the moment, the future of California’s high school exit exam is in the courts. A state appeals court will decide, probably in July, whether students can get a diploma if they don’t pass it. But the focus will soon shift to the Legislature, where there’s a bill not to rescind the exit exam, but […]
“Republicans in the state House of Representatives might have missed their best chance to implement one of their platform planks. Last week legislators approved a bill to bypass local boards of education when funding charter schools. Charter schools are public schools that operate under business charters and not under control of local school districts. They […]
