Stossel & Coulson Misinformation on Private vs. Public School “Costs”

Last summer, I had an interesting exchange with Andrew Coulson regarding the issue of private school costs. That discussion can be found here: https://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/category/private-school-costs/ I had the displeasure this evening, while channel surfing, to catch a few minutes of John Stossel’s latest episode on the failures of the public education system and low-cost wonders of … Continue reading Stossel & Coulson Misinformation on Private vs. Public School “Costs” →

Coulson’s selective reading skills…again!

So… I’m browsing the Cato web site and Andrew Coulson’s blog entries this morning and find post where Coulson explains that a 2008 study shows that spending more on K-12 education reduces economic growth (9-2-09 post). http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/09/02/fretting-about-college-costs-dont-forget-k-12/ So, I look at the study. Here are the first two sentences of the conclusion section of that … Continue reading Coulson’s selective reading skills…again! →

Coulson still clueless

In his most recent response to my response: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/09/01/author-of-the-private-school-spending-study-responds/ Coulson continues to miss the entire point of my report and misunderstand methodological detail. First, Coulson assumes that the entire point of the report is to show that private schools spend a lot and that they spend more than public schools. The point is that some … Continue reading Coulson still clueless →

Andrew Coulson should learn to read… Private School Study

I just read this piece from Cato attempting to discredit my recent policy report: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/08/31/union-funded-study-says-private-schools-expensive/ Among other things Andrew Coulson asserts that large degrees of selection bias taint my study of Private School Expenditure and that not only did I ignore this, but I hid it intentionally and skewed the results. Okay, I urge anyone … Continue reading Andrew Coulson should learn to read… Private School Study →

When Real Life Exceeds Satire: Comments on ShankerBlog’s April Fools Post

Yesterday, Matt Di Carlo over at Shankerblog put out his April fools post. The genius of the post is in its subtlety. Matt put together a few graphs of longitudinal NAEP data showing that Maryland had made greater than average national gains on NAEP and then asserted that these gains must therefore be a function … Continue reading When Real Life Exceeds Satire: Comments on ShankerBlog’s April Fools Post →

Dumbest “real” reformy graphs!

So in my previous post I created a set of hypothetical research studies that might be presented at the Reformy Education Research Association annual meeting. In my creation of the hypotheticals I actually tried to stay pretty close to reality, setting up reasonable tables with information that is actually quite probable. Now, when we get … Continue reading Dumbest “real” reformy graphs! →

Another “You Cannot be Serious!” The demise of private sector preschool in New Jersey?

There is little I find more enjoyable than boldly stated claims where the claims are entirely unsubstantiated… but where data are relatively accessible for testing those claims. This week, the Governor’s Task Force on Privatization in New Jersey released their final report on the virtues of privatization for specific services. I took particular interest in … Continue reading Another “You Cannot be Serious!” The demise of private sector preschool in New Jersey? →

NJ Opportunity Scholarship: Must Read Items

Very little time today. Big deadlines and lots of data to analyze. Since the debate is now heating up over the NJ Opportunity Scholarship Program, I thought I’d put out there a few items which really should be part of the debate on this topic. 1) The April 2010 report on the long run effectiveness … Continue reading NJ Opportunity Scholarship: Must Read Items →

Would $8,000 Scholarships help Sustain NJ Private Schools?

Note: This was written prior to the announcement that the scholarship amounts would be $6000 for elementary and $9000 for secondary schools. The same logic and findings apply, though to an even greater extreme in light of these numbers. Part of the argument being made for providing $8,000 scholarships for students to attend private schools … Continue reading Would $8,000 Scholarships help Sustain NJ Private Schools? →