Education

Cato's education research is grounded in the understanding that education works best when it is rooted in free decisions. Parents must be able to choose the education they think best for their children, and educators must be able to teach as they see fit. In higher education, those who will reap the benefits of their education should pay with their own money, or funds voluntarily given by others. And early‐childhood education must be the purview of families and providers, not government.

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2,534 results found

March 5, 2019
Blog

President Trump’s Campus Speech Order
Trump’s campus speech end does not justify the means of a campus speech executive order.
By Donald Alexander Downs
March 1, 2019
Blog

School Choice Reduces Crime and Paternity Suits
All five studies on the topic suggest that school choice reduces crime. Maybe public schools aren’t necessary for a stable democracy after all?
By Corey A. DeAngelis
February 28, 2019
Blog

Even Something as Great as School Choice Should Not Be Federalized
School choice is great, but we cannot let our hearts overcome either our adherence to the rule of law—the Constitution—or make us underestimate the potentially crushing unintended consequences that the product of our pure motives may have.
By Neal McCluskey
February 19, 2019
Blog

Elizabeth Warren’s Universal Child-Care Proposal: The Starting Point For A Government Takeover Of The Sector
Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren wants federal subisidies for child care. But her scheme doesn’t address why child care is so expensive in the first place, and would lead to more government prescription of the sector.
By Ryan Bourne
February 11, 2019
Blog

Responding to Bruce Baker
Our method, as laid out in our Cato policy analysis, remains valid, and although it leads to a large improvement over previous state rankings, it is obviously not the final word. Perhaps Baker can shake off his ideological baggage and join us in creating better state rankings.
By Stan Liebowitz
January 25, 2019
Blog

School Inc. and Andrew Coulson
The award-winning documentary takes viewers through time and around the globe to explain how freedom is the key to transforming education for the better.
By Neal McCluskey
January 25, 2019
Blog

School Choice Is about Embracing Free Enterprise
As School Choice Week 2019 nears an end, perhaps no message is more important than, simply, “embrace freedom.” It is the key to so much that we need in education.
By Neal McCluskey
January 24, 2019
Blog

School Choice Is about Rewarding Good Teachers
In a competitive education labor market, employers must compete for talent by offering teachers smaller class sizes, more autonomy, and higher salaries.
By Corey A. DeAngelis
January 23, 2019
Blog

School Choice Is about Taking Innovation to Scale
We’ve seen innovations in goods and services quickly made accessible to basically everyone over and over. But there is one place where we haven’t seen it. Can you guess what it is?
By Neal McCluskey
January 22, 2019
Blog

School Choice Is about Accountability
“In the government schools our children are abandoned.”
By Corey A. DeAngelis
January 21, 2019
Blog

First and Foremost, School Choice Is about Liberty
By upholding liberty, school choice is both both more just and more conducive to social harmony than public schooling.
By Neal McCluskey
January 3, 2019
Blog

Which States Provide High Quality Schools at Low Cost?
A recent Cato study found no significant relationship between per-pupil spending and student performance when you adjust for state cost of living.
By Chris Edwards
January 3, 2019
Blog

You Can’t Make This Up: A Speech Code that Investigates Students for Discussing the Freedom of Speech
The Supreme Court should review the Fourth Circuit’s approval of the University of South Carolina’s chicanery.
By Ilya Shapiro and Patrick Moran
November 29, 2018
Blog

Kids in Charter Schools Still Aren’t Getting Equal Education Funding
Children in charter schools receive $5,828, or 27 percent, less than their traditional public school peers each year.
By Corey A. DeAngelis
November 15, 2018
Blog

At Cato Unbound: How Best To Reform Child Protective Services?
Child Protective Services agencies can raid families first and ask questions later. How best to get them under control?
By Walter Olson