Education Curriculum

Classroom Ideology

The Disastrous Domino Effect of Social Promotion

Low student scores on national and state reading tests expose the disturbing reality that a lot of children are being promoted from one grade to the next even though they do not have the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed. Reading is the foundational skill that all children need to ...
California

Ben Austin – Can Sacramento Actually Fix California’s Underperforming Public Schools?

Ben Austin, longtime politico who has worked in both Democrat and Republican administrations in California and Washington, DC and now founding director of Education Civil Rights Now – a national non-profit with the mission of establishing a constitutional right to a high-quality public education for all students – joins PRI’s ...
Classroom Ideology

America’s Math Collapse: Harvard Institutes Remedial Math

America’s amazing technological achievements, such as SpaceX’s recent rescue of stranded astronauts, mask the death spiral of math learning in the U.S., which has reached an ignominious low with Harvard’s decision to offer remedial math. On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress math exam, 73 percent of eighth graders ...
Classroom Ideology

The Retreat From Euclid And America’s Great Math Collapse

When average people think about classical education, they tend to think about students reading the great works of Western civilization such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Those same people probably do not think about mathematics and its classical origins, yet it is the movement away from mathematics’ classical heritage that ...
Classroom Ideology

Elon Musk needs H-1B workers because math education fails our students

When entrepreneur Elon Musk made headlines with his vociferous comments supporting the H-1B visa program, the ensuing debate focused on the implications of his position on immigration. But this debate obscured the reason America even has such a program in the first place: its homegrown students are being poorly educated ...
Blog

Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

Six ways Trump administration will change urban policy

The following policy possibilities have been derived largely from Trump’s statements. Housing. “We’re going to open up tracks of federal land for housing construction,” the real estate magnate announced on Aug. 15 at a news conference. “We desperately need housing for people who can’t afford what’s going on now.” He ...
Classroom Ideology

Young People Aren’t Reading Great Books Because Many Can’t Read

Think about your favorite novel that you read in school. Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables? Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote? Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations? Now imagine if all the wonder and wisdom of those great works was closed off to you because your school failed to ...
Blog

Learn how poorly California students scored on the latest national literacy test

Low Adult Literacy Screams for Science-of-Reading Instruction in Schools

The United States ranks 36th in the world at a 79% literacy rate, which is quite terrible considering the US’s status as one of the most developed nations in the world. “Developed nations consistently boast adult literacy rates of 96% or higher, while the least developed countries struggle with an ...
Education

Norton Rainey – CEO of Ace Scholarships on School Choice

Our guest on this week’s podcast is Norton Rainey, CEO of Ace Scholarships, an organization focused on securing financial support for low-income kids to attend great schools.  We chat with Norton about their recent education survey of parents and their thoughts on school choice.  We also discuss the many advancements ...
Classroom Ideology

Learn more about the math and literacy crisis

Dr. Lance Izumi On Why Kids Can’t Read or Do Math

Dr. Lance Izumi, senior director of the Pacific Research Institute’s Center for Education, recently wrote “The Great Classroom Collapse.” The book centers around a fundamental question: Why can’t kids today read or do math? In an attempt to answer that question, “The Great Classroom Collapse” is divided into three sections: ...
Classroom Ideology

The Disastrous Domino Effect of Social Promotion

Low student scores on national and state reading tests expose the disturbing reality that a lot of children are being promoted from one grade to the next even though they do not have the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed. Reading is the foundational skill that all children need to ...
California

Ben Austin – Can Sacramento Actually Fix California’s Underperforming Public Schools?

Ben Austin, longtime politico who has worked in both Democrat and Republican administrations in California and Washington, DC and now founding director of Education Civil Rights Now – a national non-profit with the mission of establishing a constitutional right to a high-quality public education for all students – joins PRI’s ...
Classroom Ideology

America’s Math Collapse: Harvard Institutes Remedial Math

America’s amazing technological achievements, such as SpaceX’s recent rescue of stranded astronauts, mask the death spiral of math learning in the U.S., which has reached an ignominious low with Harvard’s decision to offer remedial math. On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress math exam, 73 percent of eighth graders ...
Classroom Ideology

The Retreat From Euclid And America’s Great Math Collapse

When average people think about classical education, they tend to think about students reading the great works of Western civilization such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Those same people probably do not think about mathematics and its classical origins, yet it is the movement away from mathematics’ classical heritage that ...
Classroom Ideology

Elon Musk needs H-1B workers because math education fails our students

When entrepreneur Elon Musk made headlines with his vociferous comments supporting the H-1B visa program, the ensuing debate focused on the implications of his position on immigration. But this debate obscured the reason America even has such a program in the first place: its homegrown students are being poorly educated ...
Blog

Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

Six ways Trump administration will change urban policy

The following policy possibilities have been derived largely from Trump’s statements. Housing. “We’re going to open up tracks of federal land for housing construction,” the real estate magnate announced on Aug. 15 at a news conference. “We desperately need housing for people who can’t afford what’s going on now.” He ...
Classroom Ideology

Young People Aren’t Reading Great Books Because Many Can’t Read

Think about your favorite novel that you read in school. Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables? Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote? Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations? Now imagine if all the wonder and wisdom of those great works was closed off to you because your school failed to ...
Blog

Learn how poorly California students scored on the latest national literacy test

Low Adult Literacy Screams for Science-of-Reading Instruction in Schools

The United States ranks 36th in the world at a 79% literacy rate, which is quite terrible considering the US’s status as one of the most developed nations in the world. “Developed nations consistently boast adult literacy rates of 96% or higher, while the least developed countries struggle with an ...
Education

Norton Rainey – CEO of Ace Scholarships on School Choice

Our guest on this week’s podcast is Norton Rainey, CEO of Ace Scholarships, an organization focused on securing financial support for low-income kids to attend great schools.  We chat with Norton about their recent education survey of parents and their thoughts on school choice.  We also discuss the many advancements ...
Classroom Ideology

Learn more about the math and literacy crisis

Dr. Lance Izumi On Why Kids Can’t Read or Do Math

Dr. Lance Izumi, senior director of the Pacific Research Institute’s Center for Education, recently wrote “The Great Classroom Collapse.” The book centers around a fundamental question: Why can’t kids today read or do math? In an attempt to answer that question, “The Great Classroom Collapse” is divided into three sections: ...
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