by David Safier Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, has been named the 2011 Golden Apple Winner by Arizona Parents for Education . . . Yes, you read that right. Russell Pearce, ed budget cutter extraordinaire, gets a golden apple. The group, Arizona Parents for Education, is an astroturf organization for online schools. "Astroturf" might be … Read more
by David Safier Ah, yes, the "Florida Educational Miracle," Gov. Rick Scott edition. They love them some charter schools — district schools, not so much. So they're giving $55 million for charter school building construction and maintenance. Older district schools, far more in need of maintenance, are getting nothing. Here's an example. The charter school … Read more
by David Safier This story is from Tennessee. K12 Inc., a for profit online education corporation which has "virtual schools" all over the country, including Arizona Virtual Academy here, needs to operate in volume to make a profit. So it needs, first, to get legislators to let it in and second, get students to sign … Read more
by David Safier This idea began as a blog post, then I did a whole lot more research and turned it into a column in The Explorer. The basic idea: if we break the U.S. into geographical units, we find some areas, like the Northeast, are actually comparable to some of the strong scoring European … Read more
by David Safier I'm on the road and snagging a few morning moments to post, so I only have time for quick takes on two education topics which deserve far greater attention. I know many of you readers are knowledgeable in these areas — more knowledgeable than I, as a matter of fact. Please feel … Read more