Daily Policy Digest
Education Issues
| The Fiscal Effects of School Choice Programs on Public School Districts The low level of fixed costs undermines the argument made by those in opposition to school choice on fiscal grounds... |
| The Dangers of Legislating Education Policy from the Executive Branch The Obama administration's new waiver program offers states an enticing deal to escape the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, but at the risk of creating federal education policy chaos down the road... |
| Public Schools Sell Empty Classroom Seats Abroad Across the United States, public high schools in struggling small towns are putting their empty classroom seats up for sale to foreigners willing to pay as much as $30,000 for a year... |
| The Middle School Plunge Entering a middle school in sixth grade was found to increase the probability of early dropout by 18 percent... |
| Common Core Standards Will Be Expensive for the States Over a seven-year timespan the Common Core State Standards Initiative will cost states $15.8 billion, $10.5 billion of which will be upfront, one-time costs... |
| Special Education and School Vouchers Claims that voucher schools discriminate against students with disabilities are unfounded, and merely demonstrate a lack of recognition of the incentives that public and private schools face... |
| The Scourge of Government "Affordability" Columbia University looked at federal aid data from 1996 to 2008 and found that, on average, colleges raised tuition $17 in response to every $100 of Pell Grant aid... |
| Poor Results for High Achievers A recent study found a 30 percentile drop in grades for those who were barely admitted to gifted and talented programs... |
| Milwaukee Parental Choice Program Enrolling in a private high school through the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program increases the likelihood of a student graduating, enrolling in a four-year college, and persisting in college by 4 to 7 percentage points... |
| What Research Says About School Choice Among voucher programs for public education, random-assignment studies generally find modest improvements in reading or math scores, or both... |
