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SchoolReformers.com
insiderUpdate
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Items in this update:
o FROM THE EDITOR: Parental choice: just stupid?
o The economics of school choice
o Workplace Charter Schools: Florida blazes the trail
o Home-schoolers find vindication in contests
o Milwaukee public schools on the rise
o Education bill irks House conservatives
o Schundler's charter school makes point in gubernatorial bid
o Lawsuit filed against CA Department of Education
o Florida and Pennsylvania pass choice bills
o Maryland homeschoolers fight for public access
o Replies to critics of the Greene study on Florida school choice
o Are children deliberately 'dumbed down' in school?
o Homeschooled and free
o Take action against the 'No Child Left Behind Act'
o Cyber-alert: Former Home-Ed url taken over
o HELM Harbor online discussion group
o HEM Networking and Discussion Boards
Dear Fellow School Reformer:
In response to any energy policy which might rely more on markets than
politicians to generate power (of the kind that moves cars and keeps
lights on, that is), top educrat Dick Gephardt says: "That's just
stupid."
This is, of course, exactly the same response educrats utter to any
expansion of parents' authority over their own children's scholastic fate:
"That's just stupid."
Well, it's just stupid only if we the American people are just stupid --
only if we can't possibly exercise intelligent discretion over the
upbringing and tutelage of our own children, a matter in which we are
presumably keenly interested.
Debates continue to rage about the exact academic consequences of this
form of school choice and that form of school choice. Recently, Jay P.
Greene responded to critics of his study, "An Evaluation of the
Florida A-Plus Accountability and School Choice Program." He says
their criticism glosses over or misinterprets his analysis.
Such debates -- and debates among advocates of school choice over which
forms of school choice are most moral and practical and politically
feasible -- are very important.
But the rightness of educational freedom per se does not hinge on the
immediate results or interpretation of this or that comparative study. It
hinges on the fact that parents who once had no choice at all are now able
to choose at least between Alternative A and Alternative B. And sometimes
even C and D and E as well.
Imagine that the production of washing machines had become the exclusive
province of the government. Imagine that after many decades of
government-machine-washed clothes, clothes-wearers have gotten fed up with
their half-clean clothes. Imagine that a movement emerges to promote
alternatives to government-produced washing machines. Imagine that there
are big debates over how best to provide washing-machine choice. Imagine
that there are studies of what happens when privately produced washing
machines wash clothes as compared to what happens when government-produced
washing machines wash clothes. Lots of studies.
Even if there were squabbles about the exact implications of the
washing-machine studies and Where To Go From Here in the washing-machine
choice movement, would you agree at least that it must be okay to let
clothes-wearers pursue alternatives to government-made washing machines?
Well, I knew _you_ would ...
Yours for school choice,
David M. Brown
Editor
SchoolReformers.com
http://www.schoolreformers.com
SCHOLARLY AND IN-DEPTH STUDIES
The economics of school choice
----------
by Carolyn Hoxby, editor
Links to papers presented at a February 2001 conference, formatted for
Adobe Acrobat Reader, on topics like "Does
Public School Competition Effect Teacher Quality?," "School
Vouchers: Results from Randomized Experiments,"
and others. The papers will eventually be included in a conference volume
published by The University of Chicago
Press. (02/01)
http://www.nber.org/books/schools/inde
x.html
Workplace Charter Schools: Florida blazes the trail
----------
by Lisa Snell
This study examines Florida's model of combining "workplace
schools" with charter schools. The results of the
experiment are that "students showed impressive academic growth
throughout the year and beat the other public
schools in their district in every measure tested." The report is
available in Adobe PDF. (05/10/01)
http://www.rppi.org/ebrief114.pdf
For more Scholarly and In-Depth Studies see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/resourc
es/bycategory/in-depth/
==> NEWS REPORTS <==
Home-schoolers find vindication in contests
----------
Last year, home-schooled students swept national spelling bees and
geography contests. This year, kids taught at home are once again on their
way to victory in academic competitions -- and homeschooling advocates are
justifiably pleased. (05/16/01)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/metr
o/chicago/article/0,2669,ART-51825,FF
.html
Milwaukee public schools on the rise
----------
Ten years of school choice in Milwaukee are showing dramatic results for
the city's 100,000 public school students. School choice has completely
altered the way
the public schools operate. Prior to school choice, the school board made
all of the decisions, but today a process of decentralized decision-making
has begun. (05/08/01)
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?
Page=/Nation/archive/200105/NAT2001050
8a.html
Education bill irks House conservatives
----------
The House is set to vote this week on President Bush´s education plan,
with conservative lawmakers mounting a
final effort to rescue the bill from what they say has become a
watered-down, Democratic version of school reform. (05/14/01)
http://www.washtimes.com/national/2001
0514-419668.htm
Schundler's charter school helps make point in Jersey gubernatorial bid
----------
It is almost a requirement these days that candidates for public office
proclaim education a top priority, and the
race for governor in New Jersey this year is no exception. His advantage:
he founded his own charter school himself. (05/14/01)
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001
/05/14/local_news/JCHARTER14.htm
Lawsuit filed against CA Department of Education
----------
The Pacific Legal Foundation has sued the California Department of
Education for illegally imposing regulations on the state's charter
schools -- regulations PLF considers "not authorized by law" and
"antithetical to the spirit and intent of the Charter Schools
Act." (05/03/01)
http://www.pacificlegal.org/prcanec.htm
Florida and Pennsylvania pass choice bills
----------
Both the Florida and the Pennsylvania legislatures have significantly
expanded options for parents and children
by creating corporate tax credits for educational donations. (05/09/01)
http://childrenfirstamerica.org/avfc/05090
1.html
Maryland homeschoolers fight for public access
----------
A South Maryland county refused parents' request to use a community center
for a geography club. The conflict places the county in the thick of the
homeschooling movement's latest national battle: gaining access to public
facilities for families that eschew public schools. (05/09/01)
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/educa
tion/A6521-2001May9.html
For more News Reports see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/resou
rces/bycategory/news/
==> COMMENTARY, OPINION, AND BOOK REVIEWS <==
Replies to critics of the Greene study on Florida school choice
----------
Links to press stories about Jay P. Greene's study, "An Evaluation of
the Florida A-Plus Accountability and
School Choice Program," to the study itself, and to Greene's replies
to critics. (05/09/01)
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/
cr_aplus_press.htm
Are children deliberately 'dumbed down' in school?
----------
by Geoff Metcalf
An interview with former U.S. education advisor Charlotte Iserbyt.
"From 1965 on, all these incredibly horrible values-destroying
programs were developed: values clarification, survival games, critical
thinking. Geoff,
I have a manual published in 1967 that is three inches thick of
values-destroying programs. And people say, 'Why Columbine?'"
(05/13/01)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/articl
e.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22792
Homeschooled and free
----------
by Michael Gilson De Lemos
"Schools are an antique and obsolescent institution and should go.
They are based on the mind-deadening presumption of the authoritarian
mindset that people
benefit only by what they are taught -- and not by their ability to teach
themselves. But self-learning is the real goal of education. "
(05/16/01)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/delemos/de
lemos16.html
For more Commentary, Opinion, and Book Reviews see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/resou
rces/bycategory/commentary/
==> ACTION OPPORTUNITIES <==
Take action against the 'No Child Left Behind Act'
----------
Here is your chance to prevent the Federal Department of Education from
strengthening its stranglehold on local
schools and forcing outcome-based education into every classroom. (05/01)
http://www.americanpolicy.org/sledgeha
mmer/main.htm
For more Action Opportunities see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/reso
urces/bycategory/actions/
==> MAGAZINES AND PERIODIC COLUMNS <==
Cyber-alert: Former Home-Ed url taken over
----------
Home Education Magazine has asked us to advise our readers of a problem
with their former url address. "We're asking for help from the online
homeschooling community to get ALL links to www.home-ed-press.com
changed to
http://www.home-ed-magazine.com
as quickly as possible. The old home-ed-press URL is currently linked to a
pornographic website administrated by a company in Armenia."
http://www.home-ed-magazine.com/ba
durl.html
For more Magazines and Periodic Columns see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/resou
rces/bycategory/magazines/
==> Online Discussions and E-Mail Lists <==
HELM Harbor online discussion group
----------
In a bow to concerns about privacy, HELM members are not required to
register or provide private information in
order to participate in this discussion of
homeschooling. (05/01)
http://www.helmonline.com/pages/helmh
arborlist.html
HEM Networking and Discussion Boards
----------
Share news and information about homeschooling, support groups, resources
-- and talk to the writers and editors of Home Education Magazine.
http://www.home-ed-magazine.com./wlc
m_netwrk.html
For more Online Discussions and E-Mail Lists see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/resour
ces/bycategory/discussions/
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