MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'department of education'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:29:09 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139693&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJYQ_y5NMH5Q%2F By Caleb O. BrownNext month, the Obama Administration will begin granting waivers to states that are not on track to meet proficiency requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will be granting these waivers selectively, based mostly on states’ willingness to abide by new executive branch mandates not included in NCLB, likely including adopting national curriculum standards. Duncan has the authority under NCLB to grant waivers, but not to compel states to jump through administration hoops in order to earn them, as Neal McCluskey has documented clearly. As Neal notes in today’s Cato Daily Podcast, essentially imposing national standards – as well as other potential waiver demands – represents a large-scale assertion of federal executive pow... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139693 Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:42:21 +0100 5139693 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4911449&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FCQ43vnA9tJg%2F By David RittgersI received a response to my recent blog post on the Department of Education serving a warrant and dragging Kenneth Wright of Stockton, California from his home at six in the morning (incident added to the Raidmap, and here’s an updated link to the story). Here is the word from Department of Education Press Secretary Justin Hamilton: “Yesterday, the Depart of Education’s office of inspector general executed a search warrant at Stockton California residence with the presence of local law enforcement authorities. While it was reported in local media that the search was related to a defaulted student loan, that is incorrect. This is related to a criminal investigation. The Inspector General’s Office does not execute search warrants for late loan payments. Because this ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4911449 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:28:45 +0100 4911449 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4911451&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FD5RpmLJrNPA%2F By David RittgersDepartment of Education officers employed a SWAT team because of unpaid student loans. I am not making this up: Kenneth Wright does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 a.m. on Tuesday… As it turned out, the person law enforcement was looking for was not there – Wright’s estranged wife. “They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids,” Wright said. Wright said he later went to the mayor and Stockton Police Department, but the City of Stockton had nothing to do with Wright’s search warrant. The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife’s defaulted student loans. This, along with the J... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4911451 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:48:13 +0100 4911451 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893405&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FBGwwH_nACTM%2F By Ilya ShapiroPeople in the D.C. area maye be familiar with the tragic tale of Fairfax teacher Sean Lanigan, who was falsely accused of sexual molestation, resulting in termination and a destroyed reputation.  As pointed out by friend of Cato and Cato Supreme Court Review contributor Hans Bader, however, the Department of Education is pushing a policy that would allow for more Sean Lanigans, even in cases not involving anything close to rape or molestation: If the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has its way, more teachers like him will end up being fired even if they are acquitted by a jury of any wrongdoing.  It sent a letter to school officials on April 4 ordering them to lower the burden of proof they use when determining whether students or staff are guilt... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893405 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 19:22:05 +0100 4893405 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883556&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F4gQD5uysK4k%2F By Tad DeHavenLast week, a motion to proceed on a budget resolution introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was decisively defeated in the Senate (7 in favor, 90 opposed). Paul’s proposal would have balanced the budget in five years (fiscal year 2016) through spending cuts and no tax increases. Social Security and Medicare would not have been altered. Instead, the proposal merely instructed relevant congressional committees to enact reforms that would achieve “solvency” over a 75-year window. That’s hardly radical. Paul’s proposed spending cuts were certainly bold by Washington’s standards, but they weren’t radical either. For example, military spending would have been cut, in part, by reducing the government’s bootprint abroad. From the Paul proposal: The ability to ut... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883556 Tue, 31 May 2011 19:14:12 +0100 4883556 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789222&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F_8xJ2WgGK-k%2F By Neal McCluskeyYesterday, the U.S. Department of Education sent proposed — and  highly controversial — “gainful employment” regulations to the Office of Management and Budget for review, the first step in the process of officially publishing them. The regulations — assuming they haven’t changed drastically from previous proposed versions — would limit the ability of students in vocational postsecondary programs to access federal financial aid if those programs produce debt burdens the regs deem too high, or salaries they deem too low. The exact details on what constitutes ”too high” and “too low” should be revealed soon. The big problem with this is that it is aimed at easily abused for-profit schools while leavi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789222 Wed, 04 May 2011 16:03:47 +0100 4789222 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4775373&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FIn343nt1Z4k%2F By George Scoville Habeas corpus applies to anyone, citizen or not, in custody under American law, no matter what President Bush and President Obama decree. House Republicans’ cuts to the Department of Education, which will spend over $70 billion next year, didn’t even amount to $1 billion. “Regardless of whether Pakistan gets its way, its impudence in pushing Afghanistan to abandon America exposes the real balance of power in the region.” “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to refer to a government whose intelligence service assists military efforts by al Qaeda and the Taliban against U.S. troops in Afghanistan as an ‘ally.’” Here are five ways to cut military spending today without changing our strategic focus: Monday Links is a post f... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4775373 Mon, 02 May 2011 14:29:08 +0100 4775373 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753663&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FpXmPkYP_95k%2F By Neal McCluskeyAs promised (actually, a week later than promised) I have read the Fordham Institute “Briefing Book” for reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act. As expected, it’s big on trumpeting national standards, and squishy on almost everything else. Perhaps most aggravating, though, is how loose it is in characterizing the views of those of us at the Cato Institute, who apparently are part of the big group of education analysts who love the idea of Washington lavishing money on education but are, presumably, too blinkered to want to get results for it:   The local controllers. These folks, led by conservative and libertarian think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, want Uncle Sam, for the most part, to butt out of education polic... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753663 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:19:33 +0100 4753663 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653307&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FkAWrw1TmOdo%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonLindsey Burke of the Heritage Foundation has a good post today dissecting Rep. Nancy Pelosi's recent press release on DC school vouchers. If anything, Burke goes a little easy on Rep. Pelosi, comparing the maximum value of the vouchers  ($7,500) with the published figure for DC public school spending ($17,600). As it happens, the public school spending figures published by the Department of Education (and the Bureau of the Census) are always badly out of date. That means they don't take into account the continuing trends of rising overall spending and falling enrollment in DC public schools (let alone inflation). When you break down the DC K-12 education budget for the 2008-2009 school year, as I did in this Excel spreadsheet, it comes out to just over $28,000 per pupi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653307 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:38:08 +0100 4653307 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4642778&cid=t_113098_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2FzMup-MmCrO0%2F We are honored to announce that Dr. Brenda Dann-Messier, US Department of Education’s Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education, will open 2011 SharpBrains Virtual Summit next Wednesday, March 30th, sharing Welcome Remarks with all participants. Brenda Dann-Messier was nominated by President Obama as assistant secretary for vocational and adult education on July 14, 2009. On Oct. 5, 2009 she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and began her official duties on Oct. 13, 2009. As the first assistant secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) who is also an adult educator, Dann-Messier leads the Department’s efforts in adult education and career and technical education, as well as efforts supporting community colleges and correctional education. She o... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4642778 Sat, 26 Mar 2011 14:27:05 +0100 4642778 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4592366&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2yhf1F4z5Qo%2F By Neal McCluskeyOver at Flypaper, Chester Finn suggests that people like me are either crazy or on the verge of it for fearing that the Shanker Institute's "common content" manifesto might very well be another step toward federal control of American education.   "Over in the more feverish corners of the blogosphere, and sometimes even in saner locales," he writes, "the Shanker Institute’s call for 'common content' curriculum to accompany the Common Core standards has triggered a panic attack." Now, I wouldn't say "panic attack." To panic is to "be overcome by a sudden fear," but I've been watching the move toward federal curriculum control for some time. Back in 2008 many of the groups behind the Common Core called for Washington to "incentivize" adoption of national standards. ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4592366 Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:33:41 +0100 4592366 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4549737&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FVNcSGn3W7Js%2F By Neal McCluskeyBecause the evidence of wrongdoing and evasion is so clear, and the effect has been so damaging, I have devoted a lot of pixels to the GAO's horrendous "secret shopper" report on for-profit colleges, as well as the stonewalling about what caused the initial report to be so biased. A potentially even bigger story, though, is what appears to be the machinations of an unholy alliance of Department of Education officials, Senate HELP Committee chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Wall Street short-sellers hoping to make big bucks off the demise of for-profit schools. This Daily Caller article, and the connected video of Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), are good places to start learning more about this, as is the website of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4549737 Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:06:27 +0100 4549737 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4343111&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTr91zD-Y0eU%2F By Neal McCluskeyWith the release of a new report analyzing a quietly amended Government Accountability Office study that’s been used to club for-profit colleges, fear of GAO bias has reached a fever pitch. Sadly, the GAO’s response to the report does anything but assuage that fear. To get a decent sense for the government abuse both surrounding, and possibly perpetrated by, the GAO study in question, it’s worth a quick rehash of events. Basically, the study was requested by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee who has been waging war against for-profit colleges on the suspicion that the sector is rife with fraud, waste, and abuse. To get data to support his suspicion, Harkin asked the GAO to con... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4343111 Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:22:51 +0100 4343111 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4265686&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fk2hjXnwNZEM%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonThe Brookings Institution released a new study today on charter schooling—assessing how well it’s working and what the federal government should do about it. One of the recommendations reads as follows: Student participation in lotteries for admissions to any public [charter] school and the results of such lotteries should be a required student data element in state or district longitudinal data systems supported with federal funds. Why? Because it would make it a lot easier to measure relative school quality, by permitting more widespread use of randomized, control group experiments. Experiments are certainly great from a researcher’s standpoint, but mandating that schools must admit students on a random basis has a catch: an observer effect as subtl... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4265686 Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:15:37 +0100 4265686 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4245285&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FpKb4J81JWAs%2F By Neal McCluskey I have no love of for-profit colleges and universities — they are as greedy at the public trough as any other higher ed sector — but it is becoming increasingly difficult to not get very angry about the treatment they’re receiving in Washington. Just one day after it was revealed that the GAO had substantially revised a report used back in August to smear proprietary colleges, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) — the driving force, along with the U.S. Department of Education, behind the war on profits — released a new report alleging that for-profit schools are ripping off G.I. Bill-using veterans.  At least, that’s what the media stories are suggesting. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to verify the actual content of the report... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4245285 Thu, 09 Dec 2010 20:45:31 +0100 4245285 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4159211&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F8Ct18jDykS4%2F By Neal McCluskeyWhen I first started arguing that now is the time to press the case for eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, I noted that the biggest obstacle to scaling down fed ed has long been the cheap-shot smearing of would-be downsizers. Today, I want to thank Kevin Carey, Policy Director at the think tank Education Sector, for brilliantly illustrating that very unsightly strategy. Writing on Education Sector’s blog yesterday, Carey ripped into a post I put up that morning, a post that primarily linked to a call to abolish ED from a left-leaning educator. Carey’s rejoinder: Basically, Cato hates public education, and there’s a whole lotta crazy goin’ on: The Cato Institute is dedicated to creating ”a future where government-run school... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4159211 Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:46:08 +0100 4159211 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4151752&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F8SsRTMRic7I%2F By Neal McCluskeyIt’s no secret that expelling the U.S. Department of Education is something that a lot of libertarians, and conservatives who haven’t lost their way, would love to do. What’s not nearly so well known is that there are also people on the left who dislike ED. Now, they don’t dislike it because it and the programs it administers clearly exist in contravention of the Constitution, or because its massive dollar-redistribution programs have done no discernable good. They dislike it because, especially since the advent of No Child Left Behind, it strong-arms schools into doing things left-wing educators often disagree with or resent, like pushing phonics over whole language, or imposing standardized testing. Many also truly believe in local control of sc... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4151752 Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:33:32 +0100 4151752 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4139213&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fs13HczgvsS4%2F By Tad DeHavenOver at Downsizing the Federal Government, we focused on the following issues this week: Unfortunately, the party favored by tea party supporters at the moment has no interest in shuttering the Department of Education. Columnist Robert Samuelson is right: the Obama administration’s high-speed rail dreams “represent shortsighted, thoughtless government at its worst.” Attention GOP: the electorate wants spending cuts, and they will support the policymakers who take the lead on cuts if they are pursued in a forthright and serious-minded manner. New Republican members of Congress will be looking for ways to cut the budget deficit and also to increase economic growth. One way to do both is to privatize government assets. Will the House Republican leadership embrace spending... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4139213 Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:03:58 +0100 4139213 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133669&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FwF9ndwOaHXY%2F By Neal McCluskeyOver the last couple days I’ve been arguing that the time might be ripe to start pushing the case in Congress to get Washington out of education. Educationally, fiscally, and constitutionally it is the right thing to do, and the negatives of being smeared as “anti-education” or “anti-child” could be countered by very powerful voter sentiments against big, wasteful government. Well, it seems new Tea Party-type Congress members might get a chance to use education to prove their bona fides very early. In his post-pummeling presser yesterday, President Obama mentioned education as one area in which he could see bipartisan accomplishments being made, and several articles today — including on Politico and in The Washington Post — sugges... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133669 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:31:38 +0100 4133669 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4022891&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FHyvVKnZZb4A%2F By Neal McCluskeyThe trendy thinking might be that you’re loopy if you call for ending the U.S. Department of Education, or if you think the Constitution should actually have some bearing on federal education policy. Reality, however, strongly suggests that you’d be crazy not to think that way. If you have doubts, I urge you to read Pork 101: How Education Earmarks School Taxpayers, a new report on federal education “help” from the office of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK).    To start things off, the report succinctly summarizes the role the Constitution gives the feds in education: “The U.S. Constitution provides no role to the federal government in education.” That’s not entirely accurate—the 14th Amendment empowers Washingt... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4022891 Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:27:25 +0100 4022891 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3790686&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FX2kVvmq5kkA%2F By Neal McCluskeyThere are lots of reasons to be very concerned about the national standards and tests barreling in silence toward education domination. Below, I offer several of those reasons — and one possible standards alternative – along with links to material expanding on the big concerns. Give ‘em a read, and as you do play a little game: See if you can guess who is quoted in each point: “[T]he Department of Education — without explicit congressional authority — would use discretionary dollars to launch the test-development process….Congress should have something to say about the arrangements for so momentous a shift in American educational federalism.” “The Education Department has been rushing to put the…plan into ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3790686 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:44:19 +0100 3790686 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3652398&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYy22vptrYik%2F By Neal McCluskeyArguably the most troubling aspect of the push for national education standards has been the failure — maybe intentional, maybe not — of standards supporters to be up front about what they want and openly debate the pros and cons of their plans. Unfortunately, as Pioneer Institute Executive Director Jim Stergios laments today, supporters are using the same stealthy approach to implement their plans on an unsuspecting public. Standing in stark contrast to most of his national-standards brethren is the Fordham Institute’s Mike Petrilli, who graciously came to Cato last week to debate national standards and is now in a terrific blog exchange with the University of Arkansas’s Jay Greene. Petrilli deserves a lot of credit for at least trying to answer s... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3652398 Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:47:45 +0100 3652398 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3569790&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FAe6AavpP3pU%2F By Neal McCluskeyRemember back in September, the huge hullabaloo over President Obama’s planned address to America’s students to start the new school year? Remember how concerned many people were that the speech would be heavily politicized, and perhaps even designed to “indoctrinate” kids about the President’s views on such controversial issues as health-care reform? You probably don’t remember because the media buried it and the speech ended up being fairly innocuous, but do you recall that the uproar was largely a result of U.S. Department of Education lesson plans that advised teachers to have kids talk about how they could help President Obama, and a cover letter from Education Secretary Arne Duncan that noted that schools are engines of &#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3569790 Mon, 17 May 2010 14:38:03 +0100 3569790 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3533816&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLWPoJv0MY8w%2F By Neal McCluskey…the federal government was taking over education. At least, it was moving a lot further in that direction, with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wielding billions of “stimulus” dollars to coerce states to do Washington’s bidding. And that’s not just my take. It’s also the New York Times’: Mr. Duncan is a man in a hurry. He has far more money to dole out than any previous secretary of education, and he is using it in ways that extend the federal government’s reach into virtually every area of education, from pre-kindergarten to college. Race to the Top. SAFRA. National standards. For well over a year, we at the Center for Educational Freedom have issued warnings about all of these escalations of utterly unconstitutional fede... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3533816 Tue, 04 May 2010 20:21:53 +0100 3533816 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3448959&cid=t_113098_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fpreparing-professionals-nationwide-health-care-transformation I know that health care providers are concerned about implementing new health information technology and finding professionals who can operate and maintain such systems. I know many clinicians are unsure how they will develop or strengthen their skill set to incorporate using health IT efficiently and effectively without jeopardizing their communication with patients during a clinical visit. It seems like a daunting transformation to clinicians themselves and, indeed, for our health care system overall. (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3448959 Wed, 07 Apr 2010 20:36:33 +0100 3448959 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3370387&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FS2ZroGJRum8%2F By Tad DeHavenA battle over higher education loans is coming to a head as Democrats consider including the ill-titled Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act in reconciliation legislation. In one corner, we have private education loan lenders who enjoy the generous subsidies and loan guarantees provided by Uncle Sam. In the other, we have policymakers who want to cut out the middleman by having the Department of Education provide direct loans. Critics of SAFRA correctly point out that the alleged savings of nationalizing student loan subsidies are a sham. The Congressional Budget Office has scored the nationalizing portion of the bill as saving $67 billion over ten years. However, in a letter to Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), the CBO acknowledged that when the cost of default risk is factored i... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3370387 Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:59:43 +0100 3370387 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3294571&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyFANnnmATFg%2F By Neal McCluskeyIn a shocking development, U.S. Secretary of Arne Duncan embraced the ideas of Milton Friedman today, championing the funding of students instead of schools! Unfortunately, it was in the context of higher education — Duncan and his boss have done all they can to destroy school choice elsewhere — and he completely misrepresented what Friedman said about higher ed, suggesting that the Nobel Laureate somehow endorsed the federal Direct Loan Program: We will end the loans under the Federal Family Education Program and make them directly to students — just as economist Milton Friedman proposed 50 years ago, and just as the Department of Education has been doing since 1993 through the Direct Loan Program. Were Milton Friedman still with us, I think he w... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3294571 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:44:13 +0100 3294571 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3189127&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FEF95PnA1WaE%2F By Neal McCluskeyToday’s the day that states must submit their applications to the U.S. Department of Education to compete for round-one “Race to the Top” grants. But no worries if your state’s a little behind: Not only will there be another application round for the $4.35-billion dash-for-cash, but as President Obama announced today, he wants a $1.35-billion sequel to what was supposed to be a one-time, stimulus-funded contest. The important question, of course, is whether sponsoring this race is worthwhile for federal taxpayers. The clear answer is no. Sure, in response to RttT states have been raising charter-school caps, allowing teachers to be evaluated using student performance, and instituting other changes, but they’ve done little of rea... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3189127 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:59:06 +0100 3189127 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3171881&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FIPwhuJiGAXw%2F By Neal McCluskeyWashington Post education columnist Jay Mathews has done it again: lifted my hopes up just to drop them right back down. In November, you might recall, Mathews called for the elimination of the office of U.S. Secretary of Education. There just isn’t evidence that the Ed Sec has done much good, he wrote. My reaction to that, of course: “Right on!” Only sentences later, however, Mathews went on to declare that we should keep the U.S. Department of Education. Huh? Today, Mathews is calling for the eradication of something else that has done little demonstrable good — and has likely been a big loss – for American education: the No Child Left Behind Act. Mathews thinks that the law has run its course, and laments that under NCLB s... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3171881 Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:51:12 +0100 3171881 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3008074&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FzfyzFpmRXFQ%2F Speaking to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, education secretary Arne Duncan said that “he would gladly cut federal red tape if institutions, in return, showed greater progress on improving student performance.” So the secretary supports less government intrusion in education if schools show improvement. Except he doesn’t. Not at the K-12 level, anyway. Because Arne Duncan has advocated a slow death for the DC voucher program that his own Department of Education shows is… wait for it… significantly improving outcomes while getting government out of the business of running schools altogether. But maybe that’s the problem. Schools work better the smaller the role government plays in them, but that means we don’t really need a se... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3008074 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:31:59 +0100 3008074 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2984774&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FFqA1hClCe5U%2F The final guidelines for the Administration’s “Race to the Top” education reform program have now been released. It’s a system that stimulates competition between the states to produce results that the customer (Secretary Duncan) wants, using financial incentives. Déjà vu, anyone? It’s as though Arne Duncan recognizes the merits of free market forces, but rather than faithfully reproducing them in the field of education, he’s decided to give us his own reimagining of them. Here’s the problem. There are already 25 years of scientific research comparing real free education markets to traditional public school systems. It overwhelmingly finds that markets do a better job of serving families. But we have no evidence at all that Secretary Duncan’s newly invented system will do... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2984774 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:12:05 +0100 2984774 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2865648&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOU8VBlIASEw%2F Did you know that the average American family spends $1,000 each year on the U.S. Department of Agriculture, whether or not it consumes that agency’s services?  Or that the federal government annually spends $1,500 per household on net interest costs alone? In an ongoing effort to shed light on runaway government spending and expose wasteful government programs, Cato launched a new Web site today that examines the federal budget department-by-department to see which agencies can be reformed or terminated. DownsizingGovernment.org describes which programs are wasteful, damaging and obsolete in an era of trillion-dollar deficits. The research exposes that many public outlays—though vigorously defended by the politicians who created them and the constituencies they purport to help... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2865648 Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:59:26 +0100 2865648 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2778395&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FP2BtG8Vt7nk%2F Tomorrow morning, the president’s Council of Economic Advisers will release a report assessing the short and long-term effects of the stimulus bill on the U.S. economy. As with previous iterations, this report will attempt to forecast overall effects of the stimulus across its many different components and the different economic sectors it targets. In doing so, it ignores the clearest research findings available pertaining to a key portion of the stimulus: k-12 education. The president has committed $100 billion in new money to the nation’s public school systems, and required that states accepting the funds promise not to reduce their own k-12 spending. The official argument for this measure is that higher school spending will accelerate U.S. economic growth. But a July 2008 st... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2778395 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:34:21 +0100 2778395 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2774613&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FSMCaeB8gDZo%2F After all of the rancor last week over his planned back-to-school address, it was predictable that in the end President Obama would offer a largely non-controversial speech about working hard and staying in school. If he sticks to the text released today, that is pretty much what he will do. Unfortunately, whether or not that was his original intent – and no one knows for sure but the President and his advisors – many Obama supporters will likely use the relatively staid final product as grounds to smear people concerned about the speech as right-wing kooks or out-of-control partisans. At the very least, such an outcome would be in keeping with a lot of the email I’ve gotten since the story first broke. But it will miss several critical points: No matter how innocuous the con... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2774613 Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:39:38 +0100 2774613 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2761850&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYGOz6iUp3rQ%2F Since Neal McCluskey and I weighed in on the president’s planned address to public school students this morning, we’ve been getting a whole lot of calls and e-mails from parents who aren’t too keen on the prospect. They’ve been asking us how to let their school districts know that they don’t feel comfortable with the president as “Educator in Chief.” If you’re in the same boat, here’s how to contact your district officials and (politely, of course) voice your opinion. Go to this school district search page at the Department of Education and type in the name of your district and the state that it’s in. Click the button and it will display your district’s telephone number. I’m sure the president would approve of helping ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2761850 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:21:22 +0100 2761850 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2637778&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FrvZYA-e9U3E%2F With the federal takeover of health care stalled, President Obama was able to enjoy a little feeling of success today at an event celebrating the “Race to the Top Fund,” a $4.35 billion kitty of education money created under the economic “stimulus” law. Not much actually happened today — the draft state application for fund dollars was released — but that was enough to produce a full-on, Department of Education dog-and-pony show topped off with a speech by the president. The administration even had a bit of a media blitz leading up to the show, with numerous articles appearing in major papers, a Washington Post op-ed by Secretary Duncan, and the president participating in a lengthy Post interview. Unfortunately, there’s nothing about the Race to the Top Fund actually wort... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2637778 Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:15:33 +0100 2637778 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2570392&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FeA1BivWok_A%2F I’ve often complained on this blog that there are no education muckrakers – no reporters who will actually go out and investigate the misleading claims so often fed to them by politicians and public school officials. Well, it turns out there’s at least one, and his name is Ron Matus. After being told countless times that public schools in Florida spend just $7,000 per pupil annually, Matus decided to do what no other ed reporter in the state (so far as I know) has done: check it. In a blog post today, he explains where the $7,000 number comes from, he points out that the actual total is $12,000 per pupil, and he lets readers decide which number is more relevant to them. Way to go, Mr. Matus! I particularly enjoyed this line: “[Department of Education] officials s... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2570392 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:40:10 +0100 2570392 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2510283&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTrPpQbln6jk%2F The Obama administration is taking down the “No Child Left Behind” schoolhouses in front of the U.S. Department of Education.  According to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the name is just too “toxic.”  Besides, he’s got his own plan to manipulate the public’s cuteness zone. As the Washington Post reports, “photos of students, from preschool to college age, are going up on 44 ground-floor windows, forming an exhibit that can be seen from outside. There are images of young people reading, attending science class and playing basketball.” So the propaganda is changing. The disaster that has been federal involvement in education, however, keeps rumbling along. Indeed, it seems poised to get even worse. The Obama folks have been mum ab... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2510283 Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:29:39 +0100 2510283 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2389662&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXuvHEXgBc7U%2F Tomorrow afternoon at 1pm, supporters of Washington DC Opportunity Scholarships will be rallying in Freedom Plaza to save the school voucher program. Why? That’s easy: Because a federal Department of Education study shows that parents are overwhelmingly more satisfied with it than they are with DC’s public schools. Because the same study shows that the program is raising student achievement above the level in the public schools. Because the children participating in it feel it is giving them a chance to realize their full potential in life — a chance that will disappear if the program is allowed to die, as they have attested in numerous YouTube videos. The harder question is why Congress — particularly congressional Democrats led by Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) &#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2389662 Tue, 05 May 2009 18:21:46 +0100 2389662 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2263785&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FGBrR3Itt0qA%2F Education secretary Arne Duncan testified before Congress today on the president’s 2010 budget for the Department of Education. One of the first things he said was this: We also plan to work very hard at scaling up success in our education system. Under our 2010 budget, the Department would continue to use the Innovation Fund created by the Recovery Act to identify and replicate successful models and strategies that raise student achievement. We know that there are many school systems and non-profit organizations across the country with demonstrated track records of success in raising student achievement, and our 2010 request would help bring their success to scale. Duncan and President Obama are so, so right to focus on this challenge. Sadly, their efforts will so, so utterly fail, ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2263785 Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:46:28 +0100 2263785 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1833696&cid=t_113098_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F403898522%2F Playing the Blame Game -- Video games stand accused of causing obesity, violence, and lousy grades. But new research paints a surprisingly complicated and positive picture, reports Greater Good Magazine's Jeremy Adam Smith. Cheryl Olson had seen her teenage son play video games. But like many parents, she didn't know much about them. Then in 2004 the U.S. Department of Justice asked Olson and her husband, Lawrence Kutner, to run a federally funded study of how video games affect adolescents. Olson and Kutner are the co-founders and directors of the Harvard Medical School's Center for Mental Health and Media. Olson, a public health researcher, had studied the effects of media on behavior but had never examined video games, either in her research or in her personal life. And so the first thi... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1833696 Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:05:04 +0100 1833696 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=824665&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=34867&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thediabetesblog.com%2F2007%2F08%2F27%2Fca-school-nurses-balk-at-training-non-medical-staff%2F Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Daily News, Support, Care, ComplicationsRecently I posted on the California Department of Education's recent lawsuit settlement with the American Diabetes Association. CDE promised students would have access to legally-required diabetes care on campus. With a shortage of school nurses, CDE agreed caregivers could include trained volunteers. I came away from the agreement thinking, "Good! It may have taken a lawsuit, but problem solved." But this settlement is hardly a neatly wrapped package. Liability drives many decisions. Now the California School Nurses Organization has advised school nurses to seek guidance from district lawyers before training volunteers. Nurses are concerned they could lose their licenses if they train non-medical staff. Execut... The Diabetes Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=824665 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0100 824665 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=791321&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=34867&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thediabetesblog.com%2F2007%2F08%2F10%2Flandmark-agreement-in-california-for-students-with-diabetes%2F Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Daily News, Support, Care, ComplicationsMost school cafeterias and vending programs feed our kids junk, but even worse, students with diabetes are not provided legally required care to manage the disease during school hours. Children with insulin dependent diabetes are heading to school without the assurance of regular blood glucose testing, the administration of insulin or other diabetes care tasks. In 2005, four California families and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) filed a suit in San Francisco, alleging some California school districts were not providing adequate diabetes care. In some cases, parents were called to give aid before summoning a school nurse. Michelle Ferry was one such parent. When her son was in first grade, this widowed... The Diabetes Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=791321 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0100 791321 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=734477&cid=t_113098_87_f&fid=34867&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thediabetesblog.com%2F2007%2F07%2F14%2Ffederal-funding-urged-for-diabetes-prevention%2F Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Daily News, Support, CareThis headline on the website Diabetes Health got my attention: "The Federal Government Hugely Out-of-Pocket for Diabetes Care." Here are the key numbers: In 2005, the federal government spent almost eighty billion dollars on diabetes care, writes Linda von Wartburg, reporting on a study commissioned by drug giant Novo Nordisk as part of its "Changing Diabetes" campaign. In fact, one in every eight healthcare dollars - or twelve percent of the budget - was spent on diabetes. Need some more perspective? Well, according to the Novo study, this amounts to more than the entire budget of the Department of Education. Phew.Yes, diabetes care is costing a lot of money. But the ballooning cost of diabetes treatment is only part of the problem. Of... The Diabetes Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=734477 Sat, 14 Jul 2007 04:00:00 +0100 734477 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=551391&cid=t_113098_133_f&fid=35452&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.graphictruth.com%2F2007%2F04%2Fdrowning-epa-in-bathtub-causes-toxic.html When Grover Norquist famously said "My goal is to cut government in half in 25 years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub." few thought to ask "who's half?" The Washington Post: Extinct Sense : A troubling report from the Interior DepartmentAccording to numerous accounts collected in the inquiry, Ms. MacDonald has terrorized low-level biologists and other employees for years, often yelling and even swearing at them. One official characterized her as an "attack dog." Much of this bullying, the report suggests, was aimed at diluting the scientific conclusions and recommendations of government biologists and at favoring industry and land interests. Ms. MacDonald's subordinates said she has trenchantly resisted both designating new species as endangered and protectin... Graphictruth blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=551391 Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:00:00 +0100 551391