What If They Ran The NFL Like The Chicago Teachers Union? – September 13, 2012
In the last week, two of America’s favorite pastimes have relaunched for fall. One is football, the other is politically-focused adults grabbing for more government money in the name of “the children.”

Lesson Delivered Here at Home – June 21, 2012
Bill English mocked the demonstrating post-graduates and suggested they take lessons in rioting from the Greeks. They do not need to look that far; New Zealand's teacher unions have provided a fine lesson in how vested self-interest groups can defend their entitlements.

We’re Ripe For a Great Disruption in Higher Education – February 17, 2012
How would you like to go to MIT – for free? You can now. Starting this spring, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be offering free online courses to anyone, anywhere in the world, through its new digital arm, MITx.

Proposal For More Pupils Per Teacher – February 6, 2012
The Treasury says student-teacher ratios in schools could be increased and some schools closed - with the savings used to improve the quality of teaching.

Stop Listening to Union – December 1, 2011
Another year, another poor showing for Manitoba's students, compared with others in Canada. This province's Grade 8 students fell well below the Canadian average in a national test for math, topping only New Brunswick and P.E.I.

What if the NFL Played by Teachers' Rules? – October 7, 2011
Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he's an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player's been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay. The only difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league is a few years of step increases. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct.

Performance Counts – April 15, 2011
In Florida, the Republican-dominated legislature has delivered an impressive victory for the state's schoolchildren — and for its best teachers. Lawmakers there recently passed a potent education reform bill.

What I Learned at the Education Barricades – December 27, 2010
"Over the past eight years, I've been privileged to serve as chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, the nation's largest school district. Along the way, I've learned some important lessons about what works in public education, what doesn't, and what (and who) are the biggest obstacles to the transformative changes we still need."

If Universities Were In Business, They’d Be Out Of Business – October 6, 2010
"Frosh-week frivolities have ended and some 40,000 new university students across the country have experienced their first weeks of classes. Unfortunately for many, those classes have brought frustration and disillusionment."

Spitting In The Eye Of Mainstream Education – September 21, 2009
The Academic Performance Index, the central measuring tool for California schools, rates schools on a scale from zero to 1,000, based on standardized test scores. The state target is an API of 800. The statewide average for middle and high schools is below 750. For schools with mostly low-income students, it is around 650. The oldest of the American Indian schools, the middle school known simply as American Indian Public Charter School, has an API of 967. Its two siblings -- American Indian Public Charter School II (also a middle school) and American Indian Public High School -- are not far behind.

M.I.T. Calls Academia's Bluff – August 27, 2009
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has begun the most revolutionary experiment in the history of education, stretching all the way back to the pharaohs. It now gives away its curriculum to anyone smart enough to learn it. It has posted its curriculum on-line for free.

Don't Hide School Rankings – April 14, 2009
Public education should not require us to put blind faith in the plainly ridiculous idea that all schools bearing the government trademark are equal. If the quality of public education did not benefit from competition and informed consumer choice, it would be the only consumer good in the universe that didn't. And if our choice of schools must be straitened, it is all the more vital for data about schools to be abundant, multivalent and accessible.

A Lesson From Barack Obama – March 24, 2009

School Vouchers For All Under GOP Bill – March 13, 2009
Voucher supporters say parents have the right to choose where their children attend class and that competition from private schools will make public schools stronger.

Rethinking the Notion of Public vs. Private – January 24, 2009
In his epic campaign for president, Mr. Obama promised to bridge the political divides in America. He can begin by assuring public school educators that private options are not an attack on the institution of public education. On the contrary, when done well, they expand and strengthen it.

Learning From Alberta’s Schools – September 5, 2008
With tax dollars following the students, it forced all schools to compete for pupils with innovations like alternative programming and more options for parents and students. This competition, not surprisingly, has led to higher parental and student satisfaction, as well as better educational outcomes.

The Swedish Model – July 18, 2008
BIG-STATE, social-democratic Sweden seems an odd place to look for a free-market revolution. Yet that is what is under way in the country's schools. The reforms were controversial, especially within the Social Democratic Party, then in one of its rare spells in opposition. They would have been even more controversial had it been realised just how popular they would prove. In just 14 years the share of Swedish children educated privately has risen from a fraction of a percent to more than 10%.

Alternative Primary Set Up by Parents in Bremen – October 19, 2007

Schools Must Warn of Gore Climate Film Bias – October 6, 2007
A British Judge agrees that Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth is politically biased and contains serious scientific inaccuracies and 'sentimental mush'.

Let Rural Parents Fund their Own Charter Schools – June 26, 2007