Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

Alaska School Choice Event in Anchorage

Alaska School Choice Event in Anchorage
Alaska Policy Forum is having a school choice event on August 11, 2011 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Anchorage from 6:30-9. Registration is $25. Kids 12 and under are free. Whether you are a fan of charter schools, private schools, home schools, distance schools, or alternative schools,...
July 12th, 2011 | Education | Read More

Anchorage Charter Schools are Stymied by Lack of Facilities and Financing

(By William Donovan,Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research) Founders of charter public schools are educators and visionaries. They imagine schools that offer varying learning environments, where novel approaches stimulate creativity and students reach their full educational potential. They share their...
July 5th, 2011 | Education | Read More

Anchorage School District Struggles with Math Curriculum, Just Like Students Do

The Anchorage School District commissioned The Council of the Great City Schools to evaluate why the Every Day Math program is not fulfilling ASD’s dreams. In a voluminous report, the CGCS concluded that the school district has made some strides in Standards Based Assessment scores following...
June 27th, 2011 | Education, Recent News | Read More

Anchorage School District Needs to Implement a Fraud, Waste & Abuse Program

In December of 2009 the Alaska Policy Forum recommended that the ASD implement a program to identify fraud, waste & abuse in the District. Unfortunately, our recommendation went unheeded. In light of the recent discovery of alleged fraud by District employees maybe ASD leadership should reconsider...
April 21st, 2011 | Accountability, Education | Read More

Chicago Schools Know What Your Child Should Eat

(Chicago Tribune) Fernando Dominguez cut the figure of a young revolutionary leader during a recent lunch period at his elementary school.”Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?” the seventh-grader shouted to his lunch mates in Spanish and English.Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow...
April 11th, 2011 | Education | Read More

Opinion: DC School Choice: Pass or Fail?

(Washington Post) After the House passed legislation to reestablish a voucher program that allows low-income D.C. students to attend private schools, the Obama administration issued a strongly worded statement of opposition. The White House of course has a right to its own opinion, as wrongheaded as...
March 31st, 2011 | Education | Read More

Study: School Choice Benefits Public and Private School Students

This report collects the results of all available empirical studies using the best available scientific methods to measure how school vouchers affect academic outcomes for participants, and all available studies on how vouchers affect outcomes in public schools. Contrary to the widespread claim that...
March 24th, 2011 | Education | Read More

Will Compulsory Education Until Age 18 Lower Alaska’s Dropout Rate?

Would raising the legal mandatory school attendance age to 18 improve graduation rates and reduce truancy, juvenile crime, pregnancy and other at-risk behaviors? State Senator Bettye Davis (D-Anchorage)  thinks so. She recently filed SB 9, which proposes to compel school attendance from age 6 to age...
March 2nd, 2011 | Education, Recent News | Read More

Plan to see The Cartel on Jan. 28 in Anchorage

Plan to see The Cartel on Jan. 28 in Anchorage
Event is free and open to the public. The director of the film, Bob Bowdon, will be present for a Q&A following the film. Click here to download a flyer for the event. Visit the documentary website at www.thecartelmovie.com.
January 12th, 2011 | Education, Featured | Read More

School Choice Resources Page Now Available

Alaska Policy Forum has assembled a page of resources with FAQs and publications from nationally recognized organizations. Education reform is changing the face of education across the country because people are frustrated with the performance of their current educational bureacracy.   From tuition...
December 22nd, 2010 | Education | Read More

Education: How To Fix a Broken System

(Washington Post) Top Educators Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of the D.C. Public Schools, and Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, say we need to shift to a performance-driven education system to ensure our students can compete.  We need to focus on the kids, not the adults...
December 9th, 2010 | Education, Recent News | Read More

Untying the Hands of an Effective School

(Download a PDF of this article) By David Boyle Quality education is a cornerstone of the American Experiment and is vital to its leadership role in the Free World. To maintain this leadership role, we must ensure that our education system is second-to-none. Unfortunately, today, the United States lags...
November 4th, 2010 | Education, Recent News | Read More

Decadent deficiency: L.A. county schools

(Heritage Foundation) $578 million dollar schools, school districts building when in $640 million dollar deficits, and less than half of students graduating high school sum up L.A. county, a perfect candidate for school choice. Read the article <here>
September 14th, 2010 | Education, Fiscal Policy | Read More

Parental Approval won by charter schools

(Heritage Foundation) Light is shed on more benefits of charter schools with the publication of a recent DOE report, which also shows an overwhelming support for the system by parents. The Heritage Foundation summarizes and reflects on the report and its findings. Read the article <here>
September 13th, 2010 | Education | Read More

Race to the Top: Another $4.35 Billion Spent Poorly?

(AEI) That was another $4.35 billion poorly spent. Last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the winners of the second and final round of the administration’s heavily promoted and widely cheered Race to the Top school-reform program. Unfortunately, after all the headlines and hullabaloo,...
September 3rd, 2010 | Education | Read More

The Hidden costs of the ASD contracts

By David Boyle Just recently, the Anchorage School Board approved a contract for the Anchorage Education Association (AEA) for the period 2010-13.  We expressed concern at the School Board meeting (May 24th) that the board may not have been informed of the total costs of this contract.  When asked...
August 16th, 2010 | Education | Read More
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