SEARCH
Researchers from across the country have conducted more than 100 rigorous empirical studies on the effects of school choice programs. Here’s what they found. Does School Choice Help or Hurt Students? The vast majority of random assignment studies—the gold-standard method in social science—find school choice programs help improve students’ academic performance, especially over time. […]
Rich people have always been able to practice educational choice: They either pay out of pocket for private schools, or they pay a premium to buy houses in neighborhoods with “good public schools.” So, what happens to everyone else? We know for a fact that our current ZIP Code-based public education system has kept low-income […]
The old system of delivering public education is not improving quickly enough. Since 1971, America’s spending on education has increased by 300 percent, and that’s adjusted for inflation. Yet student performance has been almost stagnant. Of the current forms of school choice, competition from private school choice and charter school choice works best to improve […]
The special education landscape has changed dramatically since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, was last reauthorized in 2004, and radically since the law was first written in 1975. Organizational, fiscal and medical aspects of special education are beyond a boiling point and have been driven to steam by a single handicapping condition: […]
…Coverdell Education Savings Accounts (Coverdell ESAs), which have been around for longer. The two types of programs are distinctly different. Here’s how: Coverdell Education Savings Accounts (Coverdell ESAs) Coverdell education…
Today’s freakout comes to us from Twitter, where we recently had a chat with an opponent who is fervently using the platform to fight a potential Iowa school choice program—education savings accounts (ESAs). This exchange represents what many school choice advocates in the states experience on a daily basis, especially regarding the financial effects of programs […]
I find myself this year in the interesting position of kindergarten shopping for my 5-year-old daughter. Besides the expected “I can’t believe she’s this big already” nostalgia, there’s an element of confusion—even angst—as we try to find her best educational fit. This does not stem from a lack of good choices. We have at least […]
Who am I? My name is Valerie McMurray My birth mother was a heroin addict and an alcoholic all throughout her pregnancy, and because of that, I was born prematurely at 3 pounds, 3 ounces on 3/30/03. (I think three should be my lucky number.) Her heavy use of drugs and alcohol caused me to have cerebral […]
Thanks to Mississippi’s Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship for Students with Dyslexia Program—the only one of its kind in the country—Karla was able to enroll her daughter, Avery, in the 3-D School in Petal in 2014. The 3-D School was able to offer Avery and her mother tailored learning plans, comprehensive evaluations, speech and language therapy, […]
I am a high school drop-out. Despite graduating from college with honors, earning two graduate degrees and professional success, my status as a high school drop-out is difficult to admit, even to myself. It fills me with embarrassment and shame due to common misconceptions, namely that we drop-outs are dumb, lazy, apathetic and untalented. We’re […]