Thursday, August 30, 2012

More creepiness from Tulsa Union

A Tulsa Union student has been arrested for taking a picture of a special-needs student using the restroom and then posting it online.

What is it with all this creepiness at Tulsa Union?

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Gallup shows private schools get top marks

According to a new Gallup poll, 78 percent of Americans say children educated in private schools receive an excellent or good education, while only 37 percent say the same of children educated in public schools.

Only five percent of Americans say children educated in public schools receive an "excellent" education.

The poll also shows that homeschoolers have their work cut out for them on the PR front.

'Teach your children well'

In The Wall Street Journal, Meghan Cox Gurdon reviews Quinn Cummings's The Year of Learning Dangerously.

Monday, August 27, 2012

The rise of customized education

Heritage Foundation researcher Lindsey Burke notes "the rise of customized education" and reminds policymakers to ensure that
education funding is free from 19th-century ideas about schooling, in order to empower families to enjoy the benefits of 21st-century delivery models. School choice—whether vouchers, education tax credits, education savings accounts, or virtual schools—ensures that families won’t be left behind when the online learning revolution is in full force.

It's time to let the money follow the child

Even with most private schools in Tulsa raising tuition, it's interesting to note how many of those schools are still less expensive than Oklahoma's government-run schools (which spend $9,121 per pupil, according to a report from the research affiliate of The State Chamber).

'More parents of special-needs children opt out of public schools'

"A growing number of parents of special-needs children are opting out of public schools, deciding instead to home school or to pay for pricey private schools," the Houston Chronicle reports.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

'A generation of school-voucher success'

According to a researcher at the liberal Brookings Institution and a government professor at Harvard, "African-American kids in New York were 24 percent more likely to attend college if they won a scholarship to attend private school."

School choice will empower ...

... teachers.

OKC school district to seek federal money (and strings)

The Oklahoma City school district is set to vie for "Race to the Top" money. As Heritage Foundation analyst Lindsey Burke correctly says, it's just "another step in centralizing education control and a continuance of Washington-centric education policy that has burdened taxpayers, encumbered states, and failed students for the last half-century."

Friday, August 24, 2012

Want parental involvement? Expand school choice

"Given that children's success in school has significant impact on their future endeavors, policies should be designed to optimize parents' involvement in their children's education," Collette Caprara writes for The Heritage Foundation. "School choice would empower parents to be the decision-makers in their children's education, moving parents 'from the margins to the center for their child's academic development,' as one report puts it."

Saturday, August 18, 2012

'School at home or homeschooling?'

More on the tension between homeschooling and government-provided virtual education.

The answer is to give parents purchasing power (either through tax cuts, tax credits, or some other mechanism) so they can educate their children as they see fit.

'School reform gets cool'

Naomi Schaefer Riley says "it's no longer just for nerds," a remark I'm tempted to resent but won't.

'On school choice, Ryan earns an A+'

Writes Deborah Simmons in The Washington Times.

NEA affiliate says NEA data incorrect

Mike Antonucci has the story.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Public money to private schools? We already do that

As is the case in Oklahoma, some members of the education establishment in Indiana argue that school choice violates the state constitution's Blaine Amendment. But as Angela C. Erickson demonstrates in an Institute for Justice report, "Indiana already supports families who choose private K-12 and college education for their children—including religious schools—and has done so for decades."

'School choice surge'

"New voucher and tax credit programs in several states are helping Christian students and schools turn corners," WORLD magazine reports.

Arizona ESA is a trend-setter

"This fall, the parents of 230,000 Arizona students can ask the state to deposit the bulk of their child's share of federal education money into a private bank account," Lauren Smith reports for Congressional Quarterly.
The parents can then use a check card to access the funds for tuition at a private, charter or religious school, or to pay for online classes, tutoring or school supplies. 

"Just like you could walk into Walgreens and pay for a prescription with your health savings account card, you can use your education savings card and purchase books, tutors, almost anything education-related," explains Jonathan Butcher, an education policy expert at the Goldwater Institute.

'The voucher left'

More inconvenient truths to disrupt the prevailing narrative.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Why Democrats must support school choice

"As a Democrat," writes former D.C. councilman Kevin P. Chavous, "I full-heartedly support school choice in every form—from strong traditional public schools to charter schools to voucher programs—because these options shift our focus from an antiquated, overly-bureaucratized one-size-fits-all system that is sadly failing millions of disadvantaged children to those who know their children best—parents."

Five-year-old wanders away from school

"A 5-year-old student who wandered alone from Heronville Elementary in Oklahoma City is OK after police found him at a convenience store five blocks away," The Oklahoman reports.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

More discussion of ESA's in Oklahoma

Today in The Oklahoman, Don Soifer and Bob Holland explain how ESA's could benefit Oklahoma's military families.

Friday, August 3, 2012

'The end of teachers unions'

School reformers in Oklahoma will likely nod in agreement reading Stanford political scientist Terry M. Moe's latest essay. Much of what he describes is already happening before our eyes.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

What the research says about compulsory school attendance

In a new Brookings Institution paper, Russ Whitehurst and Sarah Whitfield show that states with higher compulsory-school-attendance ages do not have higher high-school graduation rates than states with lower compulsory-school-attendance ages.

Survey identifies preferred education cuts

A new survey commissioned by the Fordham Institute finds that education cuts favored by respondents include teacher-salary freezes and administration cuts.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Parents of autistic children not amused

"A Tulsa World examination of public records requested under the Oklahoma Open Records Act found only two superintendents with no vehicle or travel allowance, while on the other end of the spectrum, four Union Public Schools administrators get full use of district-owned Acura vehicles as part of their benefits package," Andrea Eger and Kim Archer report.

Inconvenient truths

Click here to enlarge.



'My education in home schooling'

"Teaching kids at home can be terrifying," Quinn Cummings writes in The Wall Street Journal, "but it's sure to grow as families demand more choice."