Parents who send their children to private schools are sometimes accused of undermining public education. These criticisms are unfair. The evidence suggests that increased competition for students from private alternatives doesn't harm public school quality. They actually improve public school performance. For example, recent research from Florida showed that when a policy [...]
AIMS Fellow in Common Sense Education Michael Zwaagstra argues that standardized testing in Prince Edward Island has provided the provincial government with a more accurate understanding of academic achievement throughout the province.
AIMS Fellow in Common Sense Education Michael Zwaagstra discusses his latest column published in the Chronicle Herald, which outlines an argument for standardized testing in Nova Scotia, on News 95.7!
AIMS Research Fellow in Common Sense Education Michael Zwaagstra discusses a push in Nova Scotia to shun standardized testing and argues that students, teachers, and parents stand to lose if the province decides to support the motion.
I am writing in response to an article authored by Stephen Kimber: How the Harper Government is Spending $13.4 Million to Attack Charitable Groups. Mr. Kimber is troubled with my refusing to comment on whether the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) auditing process is political, and whether the agency is auditing the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS). His tone illustrates an absence of journalistic objectivity that solidified in retrospect my decision not to comment.
This last one is up to all of us. We all need to recognize just how important education truly is. Based on the spending of tax dollars it comes in second after health care in terms of where we currently invest — more than $1 billion a year or about $12,199 per student per year according to the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies. Our province is currently on a slide into a pit of debt with an aging population and a steady stream of young people heading elsewhere to find careers. It’s not pretty. But there is a grassroots movement building to change this economy to one that will rely on our most natural resource of all, the knowledge capacity and ideas of our future generation.
Rick MacLean of the Guardian cites AIMS Fellow in Common Sense Education Michael Zwaagstra in a short news report on mathematical aptitude in the public education system.
AIMS Director of Research and Programmes Ben Eisen discusses the virtue of competition in the public education system, arguing that limiting private alternatives to government-run institutions reduces innovation.
AIMS Fellow in Common Sense Education Michael Zwaagstra says, "If students haven't mastered most of the grade's requirements, they shouldn't be moved into the next grade." The article continues with a discussion about possible consequences of holding students back and Zwaagstra argues teachers should address students on an individual basis.
AIMS President and CEO Marco Navarro-Genie outlines the arguments against universities divesting from the oil and gas industry, arguing the nature of a veritable academic conversation, as are all conversations between engaged friends, is that it always remains open.