Education
Lexington’s Don Soifer interviews Horry County (SC) Schools leaders Soifer speaks with the leaders of one of the nation's exemplary blended learning models. The districtwide Personalized Digital Learning initiative in one of South Carolina's largest, growing school divisions integrates adaptive technology into everyday classroom instruction with powerful results.
School Choice’s Big Gains Provide New, Quality Opportunities Demand for school choice has never been higher, as new, high-quality opportunities are being offered in the area most traditional public schools have struggled with most: career and technical education for high school students. Vouchers, scholarship tax credits and Education Savings Accounts served more than 300,000 children last school year and the numbers are on the rise.
The Cristo Rey Network: Serving Sustainable Success – New Lexington Study One of the nation’s most powerful urban education success stories of the past decade, the Cristo Rey Network serves exclusively economically disadvantaged students with its Catholic mission to prepare them all to enter and graduate from college. Many expect that the Network’s newest school, in California’s Silicon Valley, utilizing an innovative blended learning model, will define a powerful new direction for the Network’s future.
What if Students Can’t Pass Immigrants’ Citizenship Test? Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch -- Considerable evidence exists that appallingly large numbers of students would not pass the exam of basic civic knowledge required for naturalization. The test asks basic questions: Who is in charge of the executive branch? What do we call the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution? The mark for passing is 6 correct answers — 60 percent. The U.S. Senate is set to take action on the Education Sciences Reform Act, where it could restore our single best tool to measure how well our schools teach history and civics.
Teach for America a Strong Bet to Improve Chicago Student Achievement Of all of the strategies underway to improve student achievement in Chicago, leveraging the contributions of Teach for America's teaching corps may prove the most valuable. Chicago's students have shown modest overall gains in achievement in recent yea ...
Newt Gingrich interviews Don Soifer about Blended Learning Speaker Gingrich talks blended learning with Lexington's Don Soifer on his weekly podcast. They discuss how it works, where it is working best, and what potential it holds for American public education.
How to Help Charter Schools – And Virginia Kids Richmond Times-Dispatch -- Increased autonomy, equity in funding and facilities access, and longer charter contracts represent the sort of “across the board” policy improvement consistent with the frameworks in states where charters have demonstrated the most convincing performance records.
DC’s Students are Improving, But Not Fast Enough Daily Caller - For students in Washington DC’s most underserved neighborhoods, opportunities to attend high-performing schools remain limited, and overlooked.
The True Costs of President Obama’s Student Loan Plan In June, President Obama signed an executive order intended to ease the burden of student loan repayment for millions of young Americans. The action extends to borrowers the ability to cap monthly payments for certain federal student loans at 10% of th ...
Celebrating History We Don’t Remember From the first hot dog to the last firework bursting over the East River, this year’s Independence Day celebrations will again demonstrate our collective pride in our nation, its traditions and its history. Too bad ever fewer Americans know much about that history, since our public education establishment doesn’t put much priority on teaching it, or on instructing young minds in the basics of civics.