Public Schools
California
#Charterswork School: Profile Clayton Valley Charter High School
Clayton Valley Charter High School (CVCHS) is an exemplar of how charter school conversion can rejuvenate a suffering public school. Founded in 1958 as Clayton Valley High School, it served part of Concord and nearby Clayton as a traditional public high school for more than 50 years. The idea to ...
Jenna Zendarski
August 4, 2016
Commentary
Donald Trump Jr. Hits Home Run On Education
The politically motivated scramble of liberal “gotcha” journalists to accuse Donald Trump Jr. of cribbing verbiage in his convention speech, which subsequently exploded in their collective faces, unfortunately obscured Mr. Trump’s incisive points on the deplorable state of government-run education and the need to empower parents. In his speech, Mr. ...
Lance T. izumi
July 21, 2016
Charter Schools
#ChartersWork School Profile: Renaissance Arts Academy
At the Renaissance Arts Academy in Los Angeles, California, students spend their days learning math, science, English, history, and music. Unlike many traditional public schools, however, RenArts students spend an equal amount of time on each of these disciplines. RenArts puts as much emphasis on music as it does on ...
Timothy Isaacs
June 24, 2016
Commentary
Hey America, your middle-class schools are not as good as you think
In comfy suburbs from the East Coast to the Midwest and from the Rockies to the Southwest, large proportions of middle-class students are failing to perform well in their core academic subjects. That’s the disturbing conclusion of a massive two-year, five-state series of studies by the Pacific Research Institute. The ...
Lance Izumi
June 8, 2016
Commentary
School choice should encompass religious institutions
What do rubber tire scraps have to do with school-choice options like vouchers? A lot, it turns out, and a case involving those tire scraps that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court could have a wide-ranging impact on whether parents can access those choice options. The case, Trinity Lutheran ...
Lance Izumi
May 26, 2016
California
Courts shouldn’t make education policy
In a recent decision, the California Court of Appeal ruled that it was up to the California Legislature, not the judiciary, to set the level of spending for schools. The court’s ruling makes good sense, not only for legal reasons, but also in light of judicial history and education research. ...
Lance Izumi
May 4, 2016
Commentary
Suburban NJ schools underperform
Are the public schools serving New Jersey’s middle-class students performing well? Lots of parents think so. They believe that student performance problems are limited to low-income areas in the inner city — in places like Newark or Camden. But many suburban public schools serving middle-class New Jersey students are not ...
Lance T. izumi
April 18, 2016
Commentary
New Study Gives NJ Public Schools Failing Grade
Many Garden State residents think that poor-performing schools are confined to low-income neighborhoods in the inner city. Yet according to a new study from the Pacific Research Institute, the data show that public schools in New Jersey’s affluent suburbs are also failing. The study compiled SAT scores from predominantly middle-class ...
Pacific Research Institute
February 18, 2016
Commentary
Report: ‘Middle Class’ Schools In New Jersey Falling Short
More than one in four “middle class” public high schools in New Jersey had half or more of their students fail to reach the college readiness benchmark, according to a recent report from the Pacific Research Institute. Middle class schools were defined by the study as those who have one-third ...
Ali Meyer
February 18, 2016
California
Key Brown Education Legacy Program Comes up Short
In his 2016 State of the State address, Governor Jerry Brown touted the centerpiece of his education agenda, the Local Control Funding Formula, which simplifies the way in which local school districts are funded. Yet his key legacy program has experienced critical implementation problems and has exposed, once again, the ...
Lance Izumi
February 11, 2016
#Charterswork School: Profile Clayton Valley Charter High School
Clayton Valley Charter High School (CVCHS) is an exemplar of how charter school conversion can rejuvenate a suffering public school. Founded in 1958 as Clayton Valley High School, it served part of Concord and nearby Clayton as a traditional public high school for more than 50 years. The idea to ...
Donald Trump Jr. Hits Home Run On Education
The politically motivated scramble of liberal “gotcha” journalists to accuse Donald Trump Jr. of cribbing verbiage in his convention speech, which subsequently exploded in their collective faces, unfortunately obscured Mr. Trump’s incisive points on the deplorable state of government-run education and the need to empower parents. In his speech, Mr. ...
#ChartersWork School Profile: Renaissance Arts Academy
At the Renaissance Arts Academy in Los Angeles, California, students spend their days learning math, science, English, history, and music. Unlike many traditional public schools, however, RenArts students spend an equal amount of time on each of these disciplines. RenArts puts as much emphasis on music as it does on ...
Hey America, your middle-class schools are not as good as you think
In comfy suburbs from the East Coast to the Midwest and from the Rockies to the Southwest, large proportions of middle-class students are failing to perform well in their core academic subjects. That’s the disturbing conclusion of a massive two-year, five-state series of studies by the Pacific Research Institute. The ...
School choice should encompass religious institutions
What do rubber tire scraps have to do with school-choice options like vouchers? A lot, it turns out, and a case involving those tire scraps that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court could have a wide-ranging impact on whether parents can access those choice options. The case, Trinity Lutheran ...
Courts shouldn’t make education policy
In a recent decision, the California Court of Appeal ruled that it was up to the California Legislature, not the judiciary, to set the level of spending for schools. The court’s ruling makes good sense, not only for legal reasons, but also in light of judicial history and education research. ...
Suburban NJ schools underperform
Are the public schools serving New Jersey’s middle-class students performing well? Lots of parents think so. They believe that student performance problems are limited to low-income areas in the inner city — in places like Newark or Camden. But many suburban public schools serving middle-class New Jersey students are not ...
New Study Gives NJ Public Schools Failing Grade
Many Garden State residents think that poor-performing schools are confined to low-income neighborhoods in the inner city. Yet according to a new study from the Pacific Research Institute, the data show that public schools in New Jersey’s affluent suburbs are also failing. The study compiled SAT scores from predominantly middle-class ...
Report: ‘Middle Class’ Schools In New Jersey Falling Short
More than one in four “middle class” public high schools in New Jersey had half or more of their students fail to reach the college readiness benchmark, according to a recent report from the Pacific Research Institute. Middle class schools were defined by the study as those who have one-third ...
Key Brown Education Legacy Program Comes up Short
In his 2016 State of the State address, Governor Jerry Brown touted the centerpiece of his education agenda, the Local Control Funding Formula, which simplifies the way in which local school districts are funded. Yet his key legacy program has experienced critical implementation problems and has exposed, once again, the ...