The Testing Bogeyman Is Alive and Well in Missouri
A version of the following commentary appeared in the Columbia Daily Tribune. If we believe it’s essential for schools to teach...
SLPS and MoSchoolRankings
With ongoing reports about St. Louis Public Schools’s (SLPS) finances, I was interested to learn that SLPS had created nine...
You Can Take Your Shades Off
The future of Missouri’s workforce may not be very bright. A recent CNBC analysis of the Top State for Business...
Is the Purpose of Education to Prepare Students for Jobs?
What is the purpose of public education? If you agree with Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe, you’d say the purpose...
It’s Time to Stop Making Excuses
Missouri students have a college readiness problem. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) reports that in 2017, just...
Cyclical Poverty Is a Problem in Missouri-What Can Be Done About It?
Imagine the Game of Life played under different rules—with everyone randomly assigned at birth to one of two paths. One...
ACT Scores Show Students Aren’t Ready for College
Taking the ACT or the SAT has become an important rite of passage on the path to college for most...
School Options and the Rise and Fall of Cities
It’s a problem that plagues many U.S. cities: How can we make sure that all families have access to a...
What’s Going On with High School Graduation Rates in Missouri?
If you google “What is the value of a high school diploma?” you get some pretty inspiring results: “Though it...
Without Consequences for Failing Schools, Students Lose
A high-school diploma is supposed to mean something. A student who earns one should be ready to attend college or...
Is This What Full Accreditation Looks Like?
On Tuesday morning, the Missouri Board of Education voted unanimously to grant full accreditation to the St. Louis Public School...
Education Reform Should Be Top Priority for Missouri’s Leaders
On November 8, Missourians sent a clear message: We want change. Republicans won every major statewide office—all of which but...
How Well Are Rural Students Performing?
Without looking up the Show-Me Institute’s new paper on reforming rural schools, would you know off the top of your...
Save Bright Flight Scholarships
The Post-Dispatch published a story this week detailing the efforts of an advocacy group to end the Missouri Bright Flight...
All Too Many Missouri Students Are College Bound, but Primed for Failure
Numbers are beginning to roll in on the performance of Missouri’s students on several major national assessments administered last year....
Melville School District Wants to Raise Property Tax Rates
Today voters in the Mehlville School District will decide if their current property tax rate will increase by 49 cents...
The Ferguson Commission: A Bridge to Nowhere
As first appearing in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The Roman philosopher Cicero once said, “Advice is judged by results, not...
Are Missouri Students Ready for College?
Piggybacking off of Brittany Wagner’s post on ACT results, I wanted to direct your attention to the ACT’s recently released...
Let’s Talk about the ACT
At first glance, this year’s ACT results in Missouri might give cause for optimism, but a little more digging shows...
From Standardized Tests to Standardized Character
Grit, not to be confused with the popular Southern breakfast dish, is a personality trait. Described by Webster’s Dictionary as “mental...
- 1
- 2
