Chicago

Teachers should not be evaluated by principals

03/31/2013
Making sure we identify poor teachers and have them exit the teaching profession should be of the utmost importance. This is because teachers, by far, have the single biggest impact on student success.

TAGS: education

Charter school waiting lists: the other side of the story

03/31/2013
WBEZ in Chicago has published one of the more incomplete stories on charter schools I’ve read in a long time. It asserts: Charter advocates and even the Chicago Tribune editorial board say 19,000 kids are on charter school waiting lists in the city.

Institute on ABC 20: Frivolous bills at the Illinois statehouse

03/31/2013
Illinois Policy Institute Executive Vice President, Kristina Rasmussen, joined Andrew Hansen on ABC 20 to discuss frivolous bills at the Illinois statehouse. $17 million dollars is how much Gov. Pat Quinn says the state falls in the red each day without pension reform. While there has been progress on the issue, no bill has hit...

TAGS: Illinois Statehouse

Institute on WCIA 3: Grant monitoring virtually non-existent

03/31/2013
Illinois Policy Institute Executive Vice President, Kristina Rasmussen, joined WCIA-3‘s Steve Staeger to discuss the lack of grant monitoring in Illinois. Almost half the state’s budget goes to grants. Some go to smaller government bodies, others to non-profits. The money is supposed to be spent on good causes, things to help people. But, in recent...

Khan Academy launches classroom pilot program in Idaho

03/21/2013
More than 10,000 students across Idaho will be using Khan Academy, the successful Internet education organization, in their classroom this coming school year. Khan Academy’s videos – which span a variety of subjects, from Renaissance art to game theory – have allowed many teachers to “flip” classrooms by letting students to listen to lectures at home and work on homework...