Education
The High Cost of Pa. K–12 Education Failures
Key Points The cost and risk of failure in our K–12 system is high. Low academic achievement is a predictor of lower lifetime incomes and higher costs for taxpayers. On…
Read More: The High Cost of Pa. K–12 Education FailuresPennsylvania’s future is in the hands of the next generation. Parents and students—not activist agendas—should drive the Commonwealth’s education policy. While policymakers have been entrusted with ensuring the next generation receives a quality education, parents should be empowered to choose the quality education that meets their unique child’s needs. Charter schools and tax credit scholarships are integral pieces of school choice, but more reforms are needed to make school choice a reality for all Pennsylvania students.
Education
Misguided Efforts Fail to Make College More Affordable
Gubernatorial hopeful Jack Wagner pledged to start a scholarship program to help students who decide to stay in Pennsylvania to attend college. The proposed HOPE (Helping Our Pupils to…
Media
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Is Preschool for All a Good Idea?
Chester Finn of the Fordham Foundation has a good article in the latest Education Next on the movement for “preschool for all.” Finn is generally supportive of government…
Media
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Conservative College Professors: An Endangered Species
Robert Maranto, a former professor of political science at Villanova, recently published a new book through AEI Press, The Politically Correct University, which highlights the scarcity of conservative and…
Media
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Charter School Students Outperform Peers
The results of a recent study by a Stanford economist strengthens the case for charter schools by debunking the myth that charter school student outperform traditional students because…
Media
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Calls to Action on Protecting School Choice in Pennsylvania
As reported earlier, the tax bill put out by Pennsylvania House Democrats would cut the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit by…
Media
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Is Gov. Rendell “for the Kids” at All?
On Friday, the REACH Foundation hosted a rally at the state capitol in defense of Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which…
Media
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Will Lawmakers Put Hollywood Before School Children?
Governor Rendell and three legislative caucuses are kicking low-income children out of their classrooms to fund handout to Big Hollywood studios. This is beyond bad policy – it’s blatant…
Media
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Reform, Not More Spending, Key to College Affordability
This year's budget debate has generated several silly schemes, including a few related to higher education funding. But Gov. Rendell's proposed video poker tax and House Democrats' ploy to move university appropriations off-budget do…
Commentary
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Government Takeover: The Student Loan Industry
Last week the US House voted to prohibit private lenders from issuing government backed loans. The bill amounts to a government takeover of the student loan industry complete with…
Media
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America’s Troubling College Graduation Rate
A recent study from AEI compares graduation and drop-out rates among American colleges and finds a disturbing trend. Colleges are graduating less than 60% of their student…
Media
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State-Run Preschool Doesn’t Make the Grade
Cato has a new policy report, as well as a recent blog post which sums up the arguments, on why large-scale government preschool programs are not what…
Media
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The Right Direction
A colleague of mine suggests that the budget deal (see our grade of the budget agreement) is better than we say it is,…
Media
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What the Public Thinks of Public Schools
Paul Peterson has a good column in today’s Wall Street Journal about the public’s perception of public schools — they are (correctly in Peterson’s judgment) unerwhelmed by school’s performance,…
Media
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No Correlation Between PA School District Spending and Performance
Tracie Mauriello of the Post-Gazette raises a source of dispute, via Twitter, on education spending vs. performance: pgPoliTweets: Rendell: Ed achievement is correlated to ed spending.
Media
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What Does This Blog Post Inspire You to Do?
When I first heard of President Obama’s planned speech to all students, I didn’t think much of it. I imagined he’d say things like “Don’t do drugs! Stay in school!”…
Media
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PHEAA Wrongfully Collected $92 Million From Taxpayers
PHEAA is being sued, along with other student loan agencies, for taking advantage of a federal government loophole allowing them to wrongfully collect $92 million. In the 1980’s, the…
Media
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PA’s Prepaid Tuition Program Under Fire
State Treasurer Robert McCord announced yesterday he is delaying increased premiums on Pennsylvania’s Guaranteed Savings Plan, which allows parents to purchase college tuition credits at current prices and…
Media
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2009 SAT Scores by State
EDITORS NOTE: Click here for the 2014 SAT Scores by state The College Board has released data on 2009 SAT Scores. I’ve compiled the data into a spreadsheet of…
Media
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School District Makes Due Without Tax Hike
ABC 27 has a story about East Pennsboro School District – the first stop on Gov. Rendell’s bus tour – using fiscal restraint, not higher taxes, to deal…
Media
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Fact-Checking Gov. Rendell and Bill Cosby
This afternoon. Gov. Ed Rendell, school superintendents, and Bill Cosby held a press conference on improvement in Pennsylvania test scores, and calling for funding increases. Unfortunately, they got a number…
Media
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“Special Needs” Status Tied to Warped Incentives
Marcus Winters and Jay Greene from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research have released a study that shows that offering disabled students special education vouchers reduces the likelihood that…
Media
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