Education
Generational warfare: It’s bound to happen here in Rhode Island with the pension crisis. It’s also happening nationally on the budget deficit debate with the new Super Congressional panel set to convene. Education Policy wonk Rick Hess offers his perspective: You’re either with the kids or with those rushing to the ramparts to defend retiree…
Ed Achorn’s latest column, in support of mayoral academies, gives a bit of the flavor of the sorts of people whom Governor Chafee has granted authority to judge and shape Rhode Island’s education system: Soon after taking office, Mr. Chafee purged the Regents of reform advocates, and installed people who seem much more inclined to…
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this: Weeks after Indiana began the nation’s broadest school voucher program, thousands of students have transferred from public to private schools, causing a spike in enrollment at some Catholic institutions that were only recently on the brink of closing for lack of pupils. It’s a scenario public school advocates…
From Investors Business Daily: An IBD analysis of data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that from 1989-2009 the number of administrative personnel at four- and two-year institutions grew 84%, from about 543,000 to over 1 million. By contrast, the number of faculty increased 75%, from 824,000 to 1.4 million, while student enrollment…
So, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is threatening to stop enforcing regulations if Congress doesn’t modify them to account for the failure of those regulated to comply: Frustrated by what he called a “slow-motion train wreck” for U.S. schools, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he will give schools relief from federal mandates under the No…
A recurring theme arose when the Providence School Board voted to eliminate administrator unionization: [Stephen Kane, executive secretary of the Association of Providence Public School and Staff Administrators] now worries that the fate of each administrator will be left to “the whim of the School Board. Of course, it’s going to get personal. It’s going…
Trying to follow public policy debates — particularly those having to do with the transfer of government money — is like trying to make sense of an incoherent dream. Whenever you hear or read that there is “confusion” or “ambiguity” related to a particular law, it’s a reasonable assumption that one or more parties are…
Under normal circumstances, this program might be an unalloyed positive, and I do believe that every student should have some familiarity with construction and trades: On Olmsted Way, a short street across from the Wanskuck Mill on Charles Street, 10 graduates of the YouthBuild Providence program are at work this summer, renovating 24 apartments in…
I’m skeptical that anything substantial will come of the current push for pension reform among elected officials, but even if some positive change results, I’m concerned that elected officials and the public alike will wipe their hands together with a collective “problem solved.” This article explaining that growing pension costs promise to eat up whole…
I touched on some of the goings on at the NEA convention earlier in the week. Stephen Sawchuk of Education Week and Patrick Riccards at Eduflack have summaries up about the now-wrapped NEA convention and what came out of it. Some points from Sawchuk: * [T]he NEA removed the sentence from its resolution on compensation…