Oklahoma's real school expenditures per student have more than doubled since 1970

"Improving student outcomes has proved difficult in large part because we are unwilling to take any major steps to make schools better," economist Eric Hanushek writes.

It appears acceptable just to put more resources into existing schools without any evidence of better academic learning. Real school expenditures per student have more than doubled since 1970 [in Oklahoma they increased from $3,813 to $8,646]—yet our graduates’ achievement remains mostly flat. When we talk about dealing with the rigidities of our current education system, people generally shrink back. Witness, for example, the reactions to teacher strikes in Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. There were no discussions of relating any salary increases to the effectiveness of teachers. Indeed, the only thing on the table was more funding for failed existing policies.

Ed prof: teacher certification 'has next to no effect on teacher performance'

Robert Maranto is the 21st Century Chair in Leadership at the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. He also serves on the Fayetteville school board. He previously worked for the Brookings Institution and for the Clinton administration. 

"In contrast to other professions, studies show that certification has next to no effect on teacher performance," he wrote last month in The Wall Street Journal.

Instead it’s is a rote exercise providing the mere appearance of professionalism. There’s a reason the prep schools attended by Barack Obama (Punahou), both Presidents Bush (Phillips Academy), Chelsea Clinton ( Sidwell Friends ) and John Kerry (St. Paul’s) hire uncertified teachers. That certification is the main qualification for public-school teachers shows how differently the country’s elites treat your kids and mine.

Sex abuse lawsuit against Oklahoma school to continue

"A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging officials at an Oklahoma school did nothing to stop sexual attacks against a middle school student," the Associated Press reports.

Mounds student said she had sex with coach 'about 100 times'

"A former Mounds High School Girls basketball coach has posted bond after being charged in connection with inappropriate relationships with two students," the News on 6 reports. "Brett Brooksher was booked Tuesday on charges of second-degree rape and sexual battery. Court documents say one of Brooksher's former players said she had sex with him about 100 times starting when she was a junior."

Scholarship organizations are changing lives

Andrew Rice runs a unique school serving students who are battling to overcome addiction. Oklahoma's tax-credit scholarship program helps students like this—and many more.

Mapping drive-times from private schools in Oklahoma

"More than three-quarters of Oklahoma families could drive their K–12 students to a private school in 20 minutes or less," according to researchers at EdChoice.

Former Cleveland school employee pleads guilty to second-degree rape

The News on 6 has the story.

Teacher raps venerable civil-rights organization

"The National Rifle Association has manufactured a world where schools must ask 'when' and not 'if'" school shootings will occur, writes Mid-Del social-studies teacher Aaron Baker.

The difference between roads and education

"Parks, roads, even policing, don’t come close to the intensely and fundamentally personal—fundamentally human—purpose of education," Neal McCluskey writes. "To assert that letting taxpaying families choose their schools is akin to letting them build private thoroughfares or parks with public dollars at best trivializes education, at worst threatens basic freedom. Indeed, far from calling for government control, the nature of education cries out for letting all people choose."

Andrew Spiropoulos and I touched on this same subject here.

Oklahoma voters support educational choice

According to a new statewide survey commissioned by OCPA and conducted by Cor Strategies (502 likely Oklahoma voters; the margin of error is plus/minus 4.37 percent):

• Oklahoma voters support educational choice. Among Republicans, the support is overwhelming.
• When asked what type of school they would select for their own children, roughly half of Oklahomans say they would choose a traditional public school. 
• A plurality of Oklahomans says public schools lack accountability.

Click on the links above to learn more. Trent England and I discussed the survey results today on The Trent England Show. (Be sure to catch the show every weekday at lunchtime on OCPA’s Facebook and YouTube channels. If you miss it live, Trent's archive is here or listen to the podcast on Soundcloud or iTunes.)

Sexual battery, assault charges filed against Jones High School teacher

KFOR has the story.

Overview of the history and status of teachers' unions

Very informative slide deck from Bellwether Education Partners here.

Children's and teens' suicides related to the school calendar

As tragic as school shootings are, writes Boston College psychology professor Dr. Peter Gray, they are dwarfed by another school-related tragedy: suicide. 

"The evidence is now overwhelming that our coercive system of schooling plays a large role in these deaths," he writes. Moreover, "actual suicides and emergency mental health admissions are just the tip of the iceberg of the distress that school produces in young people."