Education
The following aspect of the Rhode Island Department of Education’s approach to dealing with dramatically tightening budgets is wrong-headed for two reasons: The $1.16-billion budget proposal also doubles fees for teacher certifications and permits, from $100 for a five-year professional certification to $200, for example, in an effort to generate about $400,000 in revenue. The…
The Utah voucher plan that would have made a $500 to $3000 voucher available to every child in Utah, applicable to the school of their choice, was defeated in a voter referendum yesterday. The Salt Lake City Tribune has a nuts and bolts election report…Voters decisively rejected the will of the Utah Legislature and governor…
Over on his blog, America’s Report Card (named after a novel he published, not the scope of topics he addresses) Professor John McNally has put up a post claiming that PINHEADS (all caps in the original) have succeeded in getting When I Was a Loser, the now-controversial collection of essays he edited, banned from…well, he…
Putting aside his petty complaints that Dan Yorke and Lori Drew interrupted him on the radio (but noting that I heard him interrupting Ms. Drew moments before chastising her for doing the same), this aspect of John McNally’s thoughts on his appearance on Dan Yorke’s show relates to a question that I’ve had since first…
The truth — unfortunate or fortunate — is that I read much more explicit, more sexually descriptive texts for school work than Will Clarke’s “How to Kill a Boy That No One Liked” (PDF sample courtesy of Dan Yorke), including, for example, books by Stephen King in which not a few young fellas likely knew…
Cumberland Mayor Daniel McKee is one of Rhode Island’s most vocal advocates warning that shifting tax burdens from one community to another via a “funding formula” cannot produce true education reform and that more creative solutions are required. At home, Mayor McKee looks to be helping practice what he preaches. From Sandy McGee of the…
According to multiple sources, the number one concern expressed by Providence parents at Wedenesday night’s East Side Public Education Coalition/Martin Luther King Parent-Teacher Organization open forum was a need to reform the “bumping” system that requires personnel decisions to be made on the basis of seniority. From Linda Borg of the Projo…The public’s frustration with…
It would seem that Kiersten Marek has misunderstood my impetus for considering private schools for my children. Citing a study by the Center on Education Policy that finds “no evidence that private schools actually increase student performance,” she notes: Over at Anchorrising.com, self-declared union-hater Justin Katz is wondering if he should send his children to…
This official statement from the East Greenwich School Committee has been distributed to the media and updates us on the NEA teachers’ union contract negotiations: The School Committee and the East Greenwich Education Association met last evening for over 5 hours with the assistance of a state appointed mediator. Unfortunately, we were unable to settle…
A leading newspaper had this to say about Rhode Island: “In what can only be described as a phenomenal turnaround story, Rhode Island has gone from being an economic laggard to enjoying the most vibrant economy in the U.S.; its economic renaissance is often compared to that of Ireland, which is now called the ‘Celtic…