School Choice

October 29, 2019

Education business ruled by teachers’ unions truly terrifying

This op-ed originally appeared in The Worcester Telegram & Gazette and The Berkshire Eagle on October 29, 2019. By Ken Campbell and Jamie Gass “The dominant spirit… that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of...
October 1, 2019

VIDEO: Making a Difference Through METCO

A new video about the METCO program centers around the friendship between two Wayland High School students; one who lives in Wayland and the other from Boston. It also features interviews with METCO CEO Milly Arbaje-Thomas and Mabel Reid-Wallace, Director of Wayland's METCO program.
September 23, 2019

Pioneer Institute Files Updated Amicus Brief in Potentially Landmark School Choice Case Currently before U.S. Supreme Court

In the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s June decision to hear Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, a case challenging a state constitutional amendment marked by religious bias, Pioneer Institute today announced that it has again filed an amicus curiae...
September 6, 2019

Press Release: Choice Media, Pioneer Institute, and Ricochet Announce New Education Podcast

“The Learning Curve” to feature Bob Bowdon, Cara Candal, Ed.D. BOSTON – The inaugural episode of the national podcast “The Learning Curve,” a partnership between Choice Media, Pioneer Institute, and Ricochet, debuting on September 6th, will offer straight talk about America’s hottest...
August 5, 2019

Tackling equity at Boston’s exam schools

By Jim Stergios August 2, 2019 This spring, The New York Times reported that of the 4,800 students admitted to New York’s nine exam schools, a mere 190, or 4 percent, were African-American. At Manhattan’s acclaimed Stuyvesant High School, just seven black...
July 19, 2019

The Supreme Court Is Set To Decide Whether Religious Kids Are Allowed A Good Education

Thanks to Kendra Espinoza, a determined Montana mom, the U.S. Supreme Court will take up and hopefully strike down the infamous legacy of state Know-Nothing and Blaine amendments. From Massachusetts to Michigan and across the nation, this case has the potential to overturn a century and a half of state constitutional discrimination against religious families and their quest for the most suitable and effective education for their children.
June 28, 2019

Pioneer Alert: Supreme Court Will Rule on Highly Significant School Choice Case

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) announced that it would hear Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, a case that reveals the harm a state Blaine, or anti-aid, constitutional amendment marked by religious bias does to families by depriving them of educational options....
June 5, 2019

Study Finds Student Growth Percentile Is Unreliable, Limits Access to Charter Public Schools

High degree of error, especially in small school districts, leads to small districts replacing larger ones in bottom 10 percent BOSTON – The Student Growth Percentile (SGP) that the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) now uses as 25 percent...
June 3, 2019

Pioneer Public Statement on Legislative Demise of New Bedford Charter School Deal

This past week, in a display of the state’s teacher unions’ raw political power triumphing over deliberative debate, reasonableness, and the best interests of urban students, the Legislature quietly discarded state education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley’s bold effort at compromise in the ongoing...
May 23, 2019

Nationally Syndicated Columnist George Will Covers Pioneer's SCOTUS Amicus Brief Topic on School Choice

For many years, Pioneer Institute has been a leader in the effort to repeal the Blaine Amendments, legal barriers in Massachusetts and nearly 40 other states that prevent more underprivileged schoolchildren from being able to attend religiously affiliated schools. Now, nationally syndicated...