Reason Foundation

Recent Research and Commentary

For Real Equity: Give Schools the Money Instead of Staffing Positions

November 13, 2009, 12:18pm

Lisa Snell

Preschool Hype: National Security Edition

November 2, 2009, 2:05pm

Lisa Snell

A bipartisan group of retired military officers says without more educational and health investments in children the country will face a growing “national security threat.”

Universal Preschool Isn't the Silver Bullet

Reason.tv video examines the arguments for and against universal pre-K

October 23, 2008

Despite the massive $700 billion bailout and record deficits, many are calling on the federal government to spend tens of billions of dollars on a new universal preschool bureaucracy. To make matters worse, according to a new Reason.tv video, those billions would be spent on the same types of programs that have failed to produce better students or lasting gains on standardized tests.

Fighting to Free Kids From One of America's Worst Public Schools

Reason.tv's Drew Carey details the battle to improve Los Angeles' Locke High

February 19, 2008

When looking for a symbol that epitomizes the way public schools are failing our kids, look no further than Locke High School in Watts.

Approximately 75 percent of 9th graders entering Locke do not graduate in four years. And less than five percent of Locke students go on to attend four-year colleges.

It's hard to learn when you fear for your life. In the 2003-2004 school year, there were three sex offenses, 17 robberies, 25 batteries, and 11 assaults with a deadly weapon at Locke.

In a new Reason.tv video, Drew Carey tells the story of a group of parents and teachers rising up to free kids from this failing, violent school. Carey chronicles how the school's principal and a majority of Locke's teachers decide they've had enough and revolt against their powerful union and school district in hopes of giving these kids a better education. Over half of the school's tenured teachers signed a petition calling for Locke to be converted into a Green Dot charter school.

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