Judging from the platforms of both gubernatorial candidates, Virginia’s Standards of Learning exams may be in for a tougher time next year. Both Ken Cuccinelli and Terry McAuliffe have called for a commission to review and revise the SOLs and SOL exams, even though the Standards are regularly benchmarked against...
Earlier this month Infrastructure Investor, a magazine covering global transportation investment, recognized Governor Bob McDonnell as its fifth “Public Infrastructure Official of the Year.” It was the first time the publication had bequeathed the honor to an American, and the first time to a public figure who ranked less than a...
The next few years will be decisive for Virginia’s economy. According to a new report, Old Dominion’s job growth is expected to drop below the national average at least through 2014. Virginia’s innovators, entrepreneurs and manufacturers are a powerful force at work to keep our state strong. To thrive, it...
In the 20‐year history of the Department of Environmental Quality, Virginians have seen a series of environmental successes that cover a wide range of natural resource protection efforts in the Commonwealth. Significant improvements for Virginia’s environment have occurred while equally significant challenges have evolved. For example: Virginia’s population has nearly...
(Editor’s note: This is an important article because much of what is being said herein can likely become part of the charges that can be brought against Virginia farmers for the problems we confront in cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.) Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from water runoff from farm fields...
“Blended Learning” has the potential to offer a higher quality learning experience by letting students learn at their own pace, receive immediate feedback on their performance, and capture students achievement data in real-time, so that teachers can spend more time helping to individualize learning for students. This brochure helps explain...
Washington isn’t known for getting things done quickly, but the wrangling over the Keystone XL pipeline is taking this reputation to an extreme. Now in its fifth year, the approval process is ensnared in bureaucracy that is excessive even by the federal government’s standards. Every time it appears as if...
The number of Americans enrolled in four-year colleges has increased fairly steadily since 1970 but it took a dive between 2011 and 2012. Nationally, according to the September 2013 edition of American Consumers Newsletter, enrollment at four-year colleges plunged by 580,000, or about 5.3%. Is that drop indicative of a...
According to the Capital Research Center, an education and research organization in Washington, D.C., activists are now using a process known as “sue-and-settle” to obtain policies favorable to their missions. First, activists sue government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and negotiate settlements with friendly bureaucrats. They then obtain...
The popularity of long-term highway projects procured as availability-payment concessions, rather than traditional toll concessions, has been increasing over the last year. At the ninth annual InfraAmericas US P3 Infrastructure Forum in New York in June, several speakers noted the trend. Peter Allison of InfraAmericas was quoted in a long...
