The Heritage Foundation believes that every child in America should have an opportunity to receive a high-quality education. An average student entering kindergarten today will have more than $100,000 spent on his or her behalf by taxpayers before finishing high school. We believe that families should have greater control over this investment: specifically, the power to choose a safe and effective school for their child. Giving families this power will encourage innovation and improvement that American education needs for the twenty-first century. For these reasons, we support policies that move educational control out of Washington, D.C., to families and local communities.
Reforming No Child Left Behind by Allowing States to Opt Out: An A-PLUS for Federalism
Dan Lips discusses the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (A-PLUS) act as a measure to be considered as part of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization. Lips notes that NCLB increased federal fund_ing for K-12 education and established new require_ments for state and local school systems across the country. Conversely, A-PLUS promotes greater state and local control in education while maintaining true accountability through state-level testing and transparency for parents.
Still 'A Nation at Risk'
Dan Lips discusses the results of A Nation at Risk published twenty-five years ago by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. Lips examines President Reagan's response to the commission's report and how American schools have faired since its inception.
School Choice: Policy Developments and National Participation Estimates in 2007-2008
Dan Lips examines school choice efforts across the country, including the positive fiscal impact of such measures and the benefits to families and students. Lips breaks down state efforts toward private school choice, public school choice and what policymakers can do to help empower parents with educational choice for their children.
Arne Duncan - Supports Local Reform and State Flexibility
President-elect Obama is set to nominate Chicago Public School CEO Arne Duncan to be the next Secretary of Education.
Federal Education Bailout Is Not the Answer
Earlier this week, leaders of the Miami-Dade school system and Broward County school board in Florida called on the federal government to provide a “bailout” for the ailing school districts. But what states, local governments, and schools need is not more federal funds but freedom from federal regulations that burden school districts with added costs and red tape.
Transforming and Improving American Education: A Memo to President-elect Obama
President-elect Obama, your comments during the campaign show that you recognize the urgent need to transform and improve American education for the 21st century.
Give States More Flexibility, Not a Bailout
Faced with ballooning state budget deficits, many of the nation’s governors and mayors are lining up behind leaders from Wall Street and Detroit in hopes of receiving a federal bailout.
Poor Families, Not Just the Elite, Deserve School Choice
Sen. Barack Obama has joined a growing club of elected officials who oppose school vouchers for poor families while sending their own children to private school.
A reform-minded education secretary?
Would Chicago Public School CEO Arne Duncan make a good secretary of education? There are reasons to wonder if President-elect Barack Obama's nominee is the right candidate for the job. But there are other signs that he may indeed make the grade.
Education: The Neglected Crisis
With daily doses of bad news coming in the form of rising unemployment and business failures, the words "financial crisis" are everywhere. Meanwhile another crisis is receiving virtually no media attention, even though it potentially threatens our future economic prosperity and national security.
Civics Class: Gimme an F
Americans are about to get a civics lesson -- and not a moment too soon
A Model of Successful Education Reform
For years, education reformers have struggled to find strategies to improve opportunities for disadvantaged children and eliminate the achievement gap between minority students and their peers. On Capitol Hill, decades of new programs and increased government spending on education have failed to achieve significant improvement.
Vouchers benefit foster children
More than a half-million children are in foster care. By definition, they've had it tough. Social service agencies hesitate to remove children from their natural homes absent unmistakable signs of truly serious problems, such as neglect or abuse.
Class is in Session - What Will the New School Year Bring?
Change is in the air. The leaves are changing colors, and there is less sunlight -- a sure sign fall is around the corner, bringing a new school year. And lawmakers already have their first assignment: fix the broken education system that fails to provide a quality education for our nation’s children.
Arne Duncan Supports Local Reform and State Flexibility
President-elect Barack Obama is set to nominate Chicago Public School CEO Arne Duncan to be the next Secretary of Education. Mr. Duncan is known as one of a handful of innovative, reform-minded big city schools chiefs. How that will translate to the national level remains to be seen. Conservatives should be heartened that Mr. Duncan Read More...
Morning Bell: Power to Parents, Not Feds
Twelve years ago a Republican Congress and a Democrat president came together in a bipartisan fashion and passed one of the nation’s strongest charter school laws for the Washington, D.C., school system. The charter schools are publicly funded on a per-pupil basis and must accept any student who applies (if there are more applicants than Read More...
D.C. Schools Chancellor ‘Terrified’ of Left’s Education Plans
After D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee met with both John McCain and President-elect Barack Obama during the campaign, both candidates tried to claim her as his own. Obama even called her a “wonderful new superintendent.” But since taking over the D.C. school system in June 2007, Rhee has battled the Washington Teachers’ Union for the Read More...
Washington Post: Obama Should Support D.C. School Choice
Over the weekend, the Washington Post editorial page continued its support of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program—comparing President-elect Obama’s position on school vouchers with his family’s experience of choosing a school in the nation’s capital: Let’s hope the experience of moving his girls and finding the place where they will flourish resonates with Mr. Obama so Read More...
Getting Education Policymaking Out of Washington
Blogging at The New York Times, Pacific Research Institute senior fellow Lance Izumi writes on the future of conservative education policy: Republicans have always favored, at least philosophically, decision-making at the most practical and effective level of government closest to the people. They abandoned this concept during the Bush years, especially in education with the mandate-heavy Read More...
Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind: Federal Management or Citizen Ownership of K-12 Education
As Congress considers reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001,[1] a fundamental question in the debate is whether to continue to increase the federal government's management authority over education or to restore citizen ownership of America's schools.
Reforming No Child Left Behind by Allowing States to Opt Out: An A-PLUS for Federalism
For more than four decades, Congress has sought to improve public education in America by creating new federal programs and increasing federal spending on education. In fiscal year (FY) 2007, the federal government will spend $23.5 billion on programs that fall under the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which is now called No Child Left Behind.
The Charter State Option: Charting a Course Toward Federalism in Education
The 110th Congress (2007-2008) is scheduled to consider reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which will be the ninth reauthorization of the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). Yet after four decades and hundreds of billions of dollars, the federal government's involvement in K-12 education in America has failed to improve student achievement significantly.
A Nation Still at Risk: The Case for Federalism and School Choice
In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education issued the landmark A Nation at Risk report highlighting the crisis in American education. The commission reported that American students were at risk of falling behind students from around the world and that this imperiled our national security and future prosperity. "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today," the commissioners wrote, "we might well have viewed it as an act of war."
School spending: More, more, more? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
A Lesson Plan for Republicans - Campaign Stops Blog - NYTimes.com
New course is needed for No Child law, educators say- San Diego Union Tribune
ACADEMIC SUCCESS BEGINS AT HOME: HOW CHILDREN CAN SUCCEED IN SCHOOL
Dakota Voice: Best Way to Boost Academic Performance
A Parent's Guide to Education Reform is dedicated to parents who are striving to provide their children with a decent education. At The Heritage Foundation, we want to provide you -- and all Americans -- with information that will help you gain real influence in reforming education policy in America. In our 38-page guide you'll find:
What has gone wrong in today's public school system.
What Americans like you can do to bring real improvements.
What specific educational opportunities are available in your state.
Where you can learn more about education reform in America
Choices in Education provides a clickable map of the United States where visitors can acquire state-specific information on school choice options throughout the country. Information is available on public school choice, private school choice, and charter school provisions. Read More...
Education Notebook
Education Notebook is an archive of education-related papers and commentary.
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