Lance T. izumi
California
California: The anti-education-reform state
Across America, state after state has enacted bold, far-reaching systemic education reforms. In contrast, California has not only failed to enact such fundamental reforms, but has actually gone backwards and passed laws that reduce accountability, protect special interests and preserve the status quo. In Indiana, Gov. Mitch Daniels signed legislation ...
California
Grading Jerry Brown’s charter school
In the State Capitol, bills hostile to charter schools, which are deregulated public schools independent of school districts, have snaked their way through the Legislature. If they reach Jerry Brown’s desk, it will be interesting to see what the governor decides to do, since he founded a successful charter school, ...
Commentary
Give Parents a Choice
President Obamas new push for universal government-run preschool may not be what parents and children want or need. A major 2005 study by Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley gathered data from more than 14,000 kindergarteners, their parents and teachers, and measured social behavior and skills, like aggression and ...
Commentary
We Can Be Leaders in E-Learning
Expanding virtual learning opportunities is a critically important step for New Mexico. Virtual schooling was a critical component of the Florida Model for education reform, which helped transform achievement across student subgroups there from nearly worst to first within a decade. The Florida reform model has since been adopted by ...
California
How’s ‘Jerry Brown’s charter school’ doing?
In the state Capitol, bills hostile to charter schools, which are deregulated public schools independent of school districts, have snaked their way through the Legislature. If they reach Jerry Brown’s desk, it will be interesting to see what the governor decides to do, since he founded a successful charter school, ...
Commentary
Virtual School Plan Praised
A virtual school would give students in rural and low-performing schools access to honors, enrichment and remediation courses, improving achievement and graduation rates at a lower cost than traditional classroom instruction, according to a report by the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. Virtual schools offer other advantages over bricks-and-mortar ...
Commentary
The education victimizers in chief
When masses of unionized school teachers recently stormed into the state Capitol to protest in favor of higher taxes, they painted themselves as victims of Sacramento politics. Behind this scripted and bombastic street theater, the reality is that powerful and wealthy teachers unions are the victimizers in chief in the ...
Commentary
Lesson from Wisconsin
As Wisconsin government-employee unions protested against Gov. Scott Walkers budget-balancing proposals, teachers union members walked out of class, depriving thousands of children of their right to an education.The teachers callous, selfish actions demonstrate the need to give parents the ability to bypass the unionized government-monopoly school system. Mr. Walker wants ...
Commentary
Military model works for students
President Barack Obama has highlighted the need to improve student achievement, and a recent report finds that U.S. military programs are doing just that. The report by the National Association of State Boards of Education notes that education officials are amazed at the militarys ability to take at-risk young people ...
Commentary
How to Raise the Status of Teachers
Supply and Demand Raising the status of teachers in America requires not only improvements on the teacher supply side, but also recognition of the parents’ preferences on the demand side. High quality usually equates to high status, so its unsurprising that a recent report on international education reforms cites Finland, ...
California: The anti-education-reform state
Across America, state after state has enacted bold, far-reaching systemic education reforms. In contrast, California has not only failed to enact such fundamental reforms, but has actually gone backwards and passed laws that reduce accountability, protect special interests and preserve the status quo. In Indiana, Gov. Mitch Daniels signed legislation ...
Grading Jerry Brown’s charter school
In the State Capitol, bills hostile to charter schools, which are deregulated public schools independent of school districts, have snaked their way through the Legislature. If they reach Jerry Brown’s desk, it will be interesting to see what the governor decides to do, since he founded a successful charter school, ...
Give Parents a Choice
President Obamas new push for universal government-run preschool may not be what parents and children want or need. A major 2005 study by Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley gathered data from more than 14,000 kindergarteners, their parents and teachers, and measured social behavior and skills, like aggression and ...
We Can Be Leaders in E-Learning
Expanding virtual learning opportunities is a critically important step for New Mexico. Virtual schooling was a critical component of the Florida Model for education reform, which helped transform achievement across student subgroups there from nearly worst to first within a decade. The Florida reform model has since been adopted by ...
How’s ‘Jerry Brown’s charter school’ doing?
In the state Capitol, bills hostile to charter schools, which are deregulated public schools independent of school districts, have snaked their way through the Legislature. If they reach Jerry Brown’s desk, it will be interesting to see what the governor decides to do, since he founded a successful charter school, ...
Virtual School Plan Praised
A virtual school would give students in rural and low-performing schools access to honors, enrichment and remediation courses, improving achievement and graduation rates at a lower cost than traditional classroom instruction, according to a report by the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. Virtual schools offer other advantages over bricks-and-mortar ...
The education victimizers in chief
When masses of unionized school teachers recently stormed into the state Capitol to protest in favor of higher taxes, they painted themselves as victims of Sacramento politics. Behind this scripted and bombastic street theater, the reality is that powerful and wealthy teachers unions are the victimizers in chief in the ...
Lesson from Wisconsin
As Wisconsin government-employee unions protested against Gov. Scott Walkers budget-balancing proposals, teachers union members walked out of class, depriving thousands of children of their right to an education.The teachers callous, selfish actions demonstrate the need to give parents the ability to bypass the unionized government-monopoly school system. Mr. Walker wants ...
Military model works for students
President Barack Obama has highlighted the need to improve student achievement, and a recent report finds that U.S. military programs are doing just that. The report by the National Association of State Boards of Education notes that education officials are amazed at the militarys ability to take at-risk young people ...
How to Raise the Status of Teachers
Supply and Demand Raising the status of teachers in America requires not only improvements on the teacher supply side, but also recognition of the parents’ preferences on the demand side. High quality usually equates to high status, so its unsurprising that a recent report on international education reforms cites Finland, ...
