“The research shows that kids who have two, three, four strong teachers in a row will eventually excel, no matter what their background, while kids who have even two weak teachers in a row will never recover.” ■ Kati Hancock, President, The Education Trust From President Obama to the conservative-leaning...
I still have my notes from nine years ago. Speaking at a dinner meeting hosted by the Thomas Jefferson Institute, then-Virginia School Board President Mark Christie argued that “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) was doomed to failure. “No Child Left Behind requires that 100 percent – every student – meet a...
A wise boss once told me: “Be careful of what you ask for. You might get it.” In the ongoing discussions over Virginia’s Standards of Learning exams, advocates of SOL reform may want to keep that adage in mind. Those who argue that, without exception, Virginia’s Standards of Learning program...
10/3/2017 — In a recent news release, Governor Terry McAuliffe heralded the fact that 86 percent of Virginia schools were fully accredited – “a record high” for his administration and a five point improvement over last year. He neglected to mention that 88 schools failed accreditation – a 203 percent increase...
10/11/2010 – Did a federal program encouraging the use of scientifically-based reading methods lead to a decline in students classified as having a “specific learning disability?” That’s the implication of a story in Education Week, citing U.S. Department of Education statistics showing a 10.5 percent drop in students so identified – from...
4/25/2018 — “So there’s a reading circle and all the kids have a book and they’re passing the book kid to kid and they passed it to me and I couldn’t read.” That’s a dyslexic Neil Bush, describing the moment his mother took on the challenge of literacy and reading....
2/2/2013 — Virginia this week joined the rest of the nation in celebrating “National School Choice Week” from a special position: As one of 11 states with an education choice program offering new options to students in need of them. For the first time, private donors who want to help children...
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; But in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” ■ Michaelangelo 9/6/2012 – A recent criticism of K-12 education in the United States has been that, on international exams like...
If the evidence showed that taking a particular medication actually made the disease worse, would you keep on taking it? Of course not. But a recent paper, Juvenile Justice Reform, co-issued by Justice Fellowship, Right On Crime, and the Thomas Jefferson Institute makes the case that, when it comes to Virginia’s juvenile justice system,...
1/7/2014 – Language used in the “immigration wars” has been rough. One American leader claimed that incoming immigrants were too stupid to learn English and represented a political threat to America, noting that the newcomers “will soon so outnumber us” that “even our Government will become precarious.” And he complained of...
