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 'education reform'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:37:36 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028140&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2dLM3P5-hxQ%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonThe brass ring of education reform is to find a way to ensure that the best schools routinely scale-up to serve large audiences, crowding out the mediocre and bad ones. Over the past twenty years, the United States and Sweden have taken two very different approaches to achieving that goal, which I wrote about in a recent op-ed. In the U.S., our main strategy has been for philanthropists to fund the replication of what they deem to be the academically highest-performing networks of charter schools. In a recent statistical analysis of California, the state with the most charter schools, I discovered that this is not working out particularly well for us. There is no correlation between charter school networks’ academic performance and the philanthropic funding they&#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028140 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:01:53 +0100 5028140 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921380&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0_M5n3lDyiA%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonEducation scholar Jay Greene has a great new pamphlet called Why America Needs School Choice. Concise and very readable, it does a fine job of introducing the general public to the arguments and evidence in favor of market forces in education. In the process, it debunks six “canards” put forward by defenders of the status quo school monopoly. Of particular value is Jay’s explanation of why existing “school choice” policies, while often producing positive results, have not yet transformed American education. He notes that these existing programs are hobbled by enrollment limits and regulations, and thus represent only dim shadows of what truly free and competitive education marketplaces would offer. I couldn’t agree more! In fact, the... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921380 Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:05:38 +0100 4921380 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734062&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F_unSeFUtnwU%2F By Neal McCluskeyI don’t have to prove my bona fides when it comes to opposing top-down, standards-based education reforms. I’ve been highly critical of the No Child Left Behind Act; very aggressive in attacking the reckless drive for national curriculum standards; and have repeatedly noted the importance of educator autonomy. So when you read the following, keep in mind that it is definitely not coming from a command-and-control aficionado: The weakest position in today’s big education war is the one opposed to both standards-based reforms and school choice. It’s the one enunciated yesterday by the Washington Post’ s Valerie Strauss, but which is most firmly staked out by historian Diane Ravitch.  It’s the position that essentially boils down to &#8220... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734062 Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:41:41 +0100 4734062 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676755&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXa1GjVtc2HM%2F By Adam SchaefferToday, the Supreme Court of the United States issued the Zelman decision for education tax credits. More than that, it's Super-Zelman. The findings in Zelman apply just as well to education tax credit programs, but only credit programs allow taxpayers to spend their own money on education. As Andrew Coulson explained in detail earlier, the Court ruled that education tax credits are not government funds, and the plaintiffs therefore have no standing to bring suit in the first place. They were not harmed because none of their money was collected and then disburse by the state. Children are rightly our primary concern, but taxpayers deserve more consideration than they often get in debates over education reform. Education tax credit programs can expand educational choice and ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676755 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:00:51 +0100 4676755 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4445784&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUQqVge0yFQA%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonA new study of Sweden's nationwide private school choice program reveals that both non-profit and for-profit private schools outperform state-run schools. And, after the most comprehensive set of controls for confounding variables, they do so by an almost identical (and highly statistically significant) margin. Is there any reason, then, to prefer one form of private organization over the other? Yes. While non-profit private schools have tended to increase the size of their waiting lists in response to growing demand, their for-profit counterparts have done what all commercial enterprises would do in that circumstance: they've grown. For more insights on this crucial distinction, have a look at Peje Emilsson's presentation from our "Cloning Superman" event, which was br... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4445784 Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:15:48 +0100 4445784 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4318309&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FBEiefz25m7Y%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonWe all know there are too few good schools and too many lousy ones. The trouble is, we lack a mechanism for reliably scaling up the former and crowding out the latter. Competitive markets perform this service in other fields, from coffee-shops to cell phones. Can the same thing work in education? To find out, we’ve invited experts from both hemispheres to tell us what their nations have learned from decades of experience with private-school choice. Peje Emilsson founded the largest chain of for-profit private schools in Sweden’s nationwide voucher program. Humberto Santos has studied the academic performance of public schools, independent private schools, and chains of private schools in Chile’s voucher program. Responding to their findings and asking ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4318309 Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:39:22 +0100 4318309 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4179309&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FRmAi2EpN2P8%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonOver the past two decades, the media and federal education officials have tended to focus on modestly improving test score trends of 4th and 8th graders. As my colleague Neal has mentioned, new 12th grade results were released today, and they once again call that practice into question. Whether one looks at the fixed “Long Term Trends” series of national test results reaching back to the early 1970s, or at the ever-evolving “Nation’s Report Card” series, it seems as though student achievement has improved a little over time at the 4th and (to a lesser extent) 8th grade levels. By the same token, both of those data series show little or no improvement in achievement at the end of high-school over the past one, two, or four decades. Indeed th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4179309 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:25:03 +0100 4179309 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4179310&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTfZilzWQDTM%2F By Neal McCluskeyThe recent elections made one thing very clear: Americans want a cheaper, smaller, more effective federal government. Today we have powerful evidence that a terrific place to start giving them that is education. New National Assessment of Educational Progress — so-called “Nation’s Report Card” — scores are out, and despite years of massive increases in federal education spending, as well as nearly a decade of No Child Left Behind “accountability,” stagnation is what we’ve gotten. Reading scores for 12th graders — our schools’ final products — are lower than they were in 1998 and 1992. In math all we have is a slight bump between 2005 and 2009, and no data before that because NAEP changed its math framework, ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4179310 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:55:40 +0100 4179310 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4082066&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FNkytSo1u60A%2F By Neal McCluskeyWhat do you do when you’re asked your opinion about how to implement something you don’t like? Do you use the opportunity to say why you think implementation will fail, and how to minimize the damage, even if doing so might make you look like a collaborator? Or do you say nothing and just let bad stuff happen? A couple of months ago, I was presented with that dilemma by the people at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute — you might have seen me discuss them once or twice — who were putting together a report on how to govern national standards and tests. They asked me, along with several other people who’d thought long and hard about national standards, to send them answers to several questions to help inform their thinking. Today, Fordham is rele... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4082066 Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:57:29 +0100 4082066 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3954226&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2tcktPDy7DU%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonA story yesterday on CNNMoney.com describes the plight of Jenny Frank, who is young and eager to begin a career in teaching but hasn’t been able to land a job. It’s always sad to hear of people failing to find work in their chosen field, but the article in question completely misses a staggeringly important national story. As I mentioned this morning on Fox ‘n’ Friends: we have about 1.5 million too many teachers already! Since 1970, public school enrollment has barely budged–up just 9 percent. Over the same period, employment has doubled. We’ve added 3 million new government school jobs. Half of those are teachers, another quarter are teachers’ aides, and the rest are service personnel and bureaucrats. This hiring binge has ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3954226 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:39:57 +0100 3954226 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3866957&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fa-multi-prong-attack-on-fatness%2F2010.08.14 If I was Surgeon General, I would follow the lead of our country’s first Mom, Michelle Obama. This is serious folks. We as an American society need to solve the obesity crisis, not just for our physical health, but for our country’s financial stability. Reducing the spiraling costs of healthcare is wanted by all. So far, prevention of the diseases which contribute most to our healthcare costs, (heart disease, cancer and orthopedic issues, to name just a few) has been given only lip service, by our future supplier of healthcare — the American government. It turns out that the mechanisms to reduce our most costly ailments are the same as those that mitigate obesity. It is like simple math. (If a=b, and b=c, than a=c.)  If lifestyle choices reduce obesity, and less obesity ... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3866957 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0100 3866957 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3822906&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FHxNhFfHgHCA%2F By Ilya ShapiroArizona grants income tax credits for contributions made to school tuition organizations (“STOs”).  STOs must use these donations for scholarships that allow students to attend private schools.  This statutory scheme broadens the educational opportunities for thousands of students by enabling them to attend schools they would otherwise lack the means to attend.  Still, several taxpayers filed a lawsuit challenging the program as creating a state establishment of religion. Although the Ninth Circuit acknowledged that increasing educational opportunities is a valid secular purpose for a legislative act, it found that the tax credit program nonetheless violates the Establishment Clause because many of the STOs—as it happens, a decreasing majority—provide scholarships... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3822906 Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:14:53 +0100 3822906 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3714156&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fxhoxmz3dTfQ%2F By Adam SchaefferTradeoffs are an incurable part of reality. Unfortunately, many school choice supporters like to believe that there are no tradeoffs between school choice policies; public and private school choice, targeted or restricted, big or small, voucher or tax credits, it’s all choice and it’s all good. But some good things are better than others. And most things have some mix of positive and negative effects. Charter schools often provide a safer, better alternative to traditional public schools. That’s good. Charter schools also destroy private schools, decrease educational options, pull private-school students into the government education system and thereby add significant new costs to taxpayers. These are all very bad things. And they are not at all balanced by theories ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3714156 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:18:37 +0100 3714156 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3420441&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F4XM3Iy_0f0M%2F By Neal McCluskeyCongratulations Delaware and Tennessee — you’ve won the Race to the Top beauty contest! Of course, the grading was subjective and will be disputed by lots of states that haven’t won. Well, haven’t won yet — there’s a second round to this, remember. So what do the victories for Delaware and Tennessee mean? The edu-pundits will no doubt be reading deep into the results over the coming days, trying to determine what they portend for the future of RttT, federal education policy generally, and politicians across the country.  And there are some juicy political leads worth following, including the possibility that the winning states were chosen because they have Republican congress members who could be pivotal in getting bipartisan support for the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3420441 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:58:47 +0100 3420441 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3326963&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F-gXrePdrWfA%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonJay Greene heads up the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, which has gotten federal research grants in the past. Here’s why he’s now telling the feds to get out of the education research business entirely. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3326963 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:21:24 +0100 3326963 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2981057&cid=t_113110_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXXiVf30PFJQ%2F On the day that we honor veterans for defending our freedom, I read this: Community groups and Los Angeles Unified officials on Tuesday condemned an anonymous flyer handed to Latino parents that threatened them with deportation if they supported plans to convert their neighborhood school to a charter. Calling it an escalation in a series of “scare tactics,” district officials and community advocates said distribution of the flyer was timed to weaken one of LAUSD’s boldest efforts to reform public education in Los Angeles. A generation or two from now, when children are studying how school choice began to spread throughout America, they will read of such incidents and marvel at the depths to which opponents sunk. If you’re a policymaker or opinion leader, on which si... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2981057 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:33:03 +0100 2981057 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1475481&cid=t_113110_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F05%2F29%2Fchildhood-the-new-age-of-anxiety%2F Gina Stepp of Vision has an interesting piece on recent findings that suggest children in the U.S. and other countries are increasingly struggling with anxiety and unhappiness. Below we excerpt a portion of her piece. * * * In the year 2000—even before terrorism hit so close to home for Americans on September 11, 2001, and before the United States went to war with Iraq—an interesting study appeared in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In her report, social psychologist Jean Twenge observed that anxiety levels in American children had increased dramatically since the first effective scale for measuring childhood anxiety was published in 1956. The increases were so large and linear, Twenge explained, that by the 1980s normal children... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1475481 Thu, 29 May 2008 16:00:13 +0100 1475481 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1289347&cid=t_113110_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F248421555%2F If you are interested in education reform, social entrepreneurship and venture philantropy, grab a nice cap of tea or coffee and enjoy today's spectacular edition of the New York Times Magazine. Must read: insightful expert discussion on How Many Billionaires Does It Take to Fix a School System? Also: excellent pieces titled Self-Made Philanthropists, on how ProPublica was conveived and launched, and For Good, Measure, on the importance and challenges of measuring the return on social investments. Bonus: the newspaper's Week in Review section brings a throught-provoking article on Brain Enhancement Is Wrong, Right?, on the use of drugs for boosting brain performance. Am happy to report that no one in the Education articles suggested giving these drugs to millions of kids... brain enhan... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1289347 Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:13:44 +0100 1289347