During his State of the Union address this month, President Obama called for a universal preschool program. The idea is that widespread preschool will boost students’ educational achievements later in life.

The fact is, however, that universal preschool–which is on the books in Georgia and Oklahoma–is costly and has not been demonstrated to improve educational achievement.

The Heritage Foundation’s Lindsey Burke explains that these programs don’t raise test scores as liberals suppose. “In fact, in Oklahoma, fourth-grade reading test scores have declined since 1998, when the state first implemented universal preschool,” Burke explains. Continue Reading »

Heritage Foundation scholar Ernest Istook hosted several leading political commentators and Heritage experts on his program last week.

• Jason Jones, producer of the film Cresendo, discussed the story and message behind his pro-life film.
• Penny Nance from Concerned Women for America discussed the new role of women in combat.

Human Events contributor, Tim Cavanaugh discussed how demographic changes in the electorate will shape future elections.

Other guests included Congressman Ralph Hall (R-TX) and Heritage’s Lindsey Burke and Rachel Sheffield.

Check in Monday as Istook continues to discuss these and other important issues.  Be sure to tune in 9:00 a.m. to noon Eastern Monday through Friday. Find out more about the show, browse show archives, and listen live on istook.com

President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney squared off last night on foreign policy in the final of three presidential candidates’ debates.

Here’s a rundown of reactions from Heritage Foundation experts: Continue Reading »

Last night, Heritage Foundation experts live-blogged their analysis of the issues raised as President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney debated. Heritage’s Amy Payne rounds up our what our experts were saying.

Tax expert Curtis Dubay on the need for tax reform:

Obama repeated the falsehood that Romney’s plan would raise taxes on the middle class. This incorrect assertion was spread by a biased report from the Tax Policy Center. Romney’s plan can make pro-growth changes to the tax code and doesn’t have to raise taxes on the middle class.

Read our experts’ takedown of the Tax Policy Center’s flawed report. Continue Reading »

The Heritage Foundation’s policy experts will be providing real-time analysis of tonight’s presidential candidates’ debate. Visit The Foundry to watch the debate online and stay up-to-date with our experts’ blog commentary and Twitter updates.

And be sure to join the conversation on Twitter by following @Heritage and posting with the hashtag #Debate2012.

Lindsey Burke

Bipartisan legislation expanding federal grants to stop school bullying is misguided, Heritage Foundation education expert Lindsey Burke writes.

The solution to the problem lies with parents and teachers at local schools, not one-size-fits-all Washington programs. But Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D–TX) and Lamar Smith (R–TX) nonetheless think Congress should get involved.

“No one believes children should be bullied in school, no matter what the genesis of the bullying,” Burke writes. “But to think that somehow Congress could stop playground taunting, middle-school teasing, or insults leveled through social media is illogical.”

She continues: “School culture is something that only schools can set. Values cannot be imposed from above or outside. It is very difficult to see how the federal government can play a major role in stopping bullying in hundreds of thousands of schools across the land.”

What do you think? Will new federal programs and red tape put a stop to schoolyard bullies?

As the world becomes increasingly more competitive, our country has struggled to adequately prepare its future competitors. Despite its efforts, millions of children each year fail to receive a quality education that puts them on a path to success.

The government has responded to this problem with increased funding that attempts to close the academic achievement gap, but we have not yet seen results: graduation rates have not changed, achievement gaps between white and minority children persist, and American students continue to rank in the middle when compared to their international peers.

Education experts Lindsey Burke and Jennifer Marshall from The Heritage Foundation elaborate on the issue:

Taxpayers will spend $120,000 on the average student entering kindergarten today before that student finishes high school. Families should have greater control of this investment. Giving families the power to choose safe and effective schools for their children will encourage the innovation and improvement that American education needs for the 21st century. It is time to move educational control out of Washington, D.C., and back to families and local communities.

The Heritage Foundation’s policy recommendations encourage success in schools while requiring less government involvement in education.

Click here to read more about Heritage’s solutions for education.

Do you think that public education adequately prepares America’s youth for the future?

Nina Owcharenko

Three Heritage Foundation scholars were recently awarded named fellowships. The Washington Post reports on the news:

The Heritage Foundation has announced that Nina Owcharenko has been named the first Preston A. Wells Jr. Fellow in Health Policy.

“This is well-deserved recognition for Nina’s leadership in the effort to repeal Obamacare and move America to patient-centered, market-based health care,” said Heritage President Edwin J. Feulner in a statement. “Dick Wells believed it was people and organizations, not the federal government, that can solve America’s political ills.”

. . .

The Heritage Foundation has also recently announced that education policy scholar Lindsey Burke has been named the Will Skillman Fellow in Education and that Nicolas Loris , an economist at the think tank, has been named the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow.

Should taxpayers subsidize students attending Harvard? Photo: Flickr/Matthew Boyer

As President Obama travels the country urging continued federal subsidies for higher education, The Heritage Foundation’s Lindsey Burke weighs in on the issue in an interview with the Washington Post:

Keeping interest rates artificially low will fail to drive down college costs in the long run. Colleges will once again be able to increase costs, and students with easy access to low-interest loans will once again be able to pay. The Obama administration has significantly increased federal involvement in the student loan industry, effectively nationalizing student lending through language buried in Obamacare, by continuing to increase federal subsidies, and by “forgiving” student loans altogether after 20 years on the backs of taxpayers. But these policies only exacerbate the college cost crisis, continuing a vicious cycle whereby college costs rise in tandem with ever-increasing federal subsidies.

Read all Heritage research on higher education here.

What do you think the federal government’s role should be in higher education?

Heritage's Lindsey Burke, left, speaks on a National School Choice Week panel. Photo: Chas Geer

Lindsey Burke, The Heritage Foundation’s Will Skillman Fellow in Education, shows no hesitation about her passion and dedication to education policy.

“My hope is to inform policy in a way that empowers  every family to have  access to a customized educational experience for their child, where they can tailor their child’s learning options to meet the child’s unique needs,” Burke says.

Her teaching experiences have given her a good flavor of what happens in the classroom setting. This helps inform her perspective as she helps inform state and  federal  education policy.

“There are two overarching principles that guide how we want to see education policy reformed,” Burke explains: Continue Reading »