Uneducating America: Student Test Scores on U.S. History and Civics Hit All-Time Lows

By Larry Sand
06/02/2023
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, is a test that measures the knowledge of American students in various areas. The results of the NAEP test in U.S. history and civics, taken in 2022, were released last month. They paint a grim picture: according to the data,...

TAGS: California public education, california public schools, education, NAEP, standardized testing

Student Achievement Disparities in California

By Sheridan Swanson
11/04/2022
California parents are understandably exasperated with the alarming achievement disparities among K-12 students in the state. State and national performance assessment rankings show that California’s traditional public schools are some of the worst performing in the nation. And while poor school performance affects students of all backgrounds, low-income and minority students are disproportionately impacted. The...

TAGS: California government unions, california public schools, public schools, standardized testing, teachers unions

Jerry Brown and CTA: Testphobic Twins

By Larry Sand
01/31/2012
Children in the Golden State will get a better education when teacher quality becomes a priority. In perhaps the most in-depth study on the subject to date, three Ivy League economists studied how much the quality of individual teachers matters to their students over the long term. The paper, by Raj Chetty and John N....

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Jerry Brown, Lance Izumi, standardized testing, teacher quality, teachers unions, value added

Bad Signs at the SOS March

By Larry Sand
08/02/2011
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” – William Butler Yeats “You can’t light a fire in an empty bucket” – Larry Sand The Save Our Schools March, Rally and Pity Party went off as planned in D.C. this past weekend, although on a smaller scale than the organizers had anticipated. They...

TAGS: seniority, SOS March, standardized testing, teachers union