For an alternate viewpoint, see Counterpoint: Standardized Tests Help Students by Creating a Framework for Accountability. For more than a century, American education has been driven by the same invisible engine: standardization. Rows of desks. National tests. Rankings. From No Child Left Behind to statewide report cards, we have long measured success by what can […]
Posted inEducation
Counterpoint: Standardized Tests Help Students by Creating a Framework for Accountability
For an alternate viewpoint, see “Point: Standardized Tests Were Built for a Predictable World; That World Is Gone.” When the College Board cancelled SAT testing in 2020, hundreds of colleges adopted test-optional admissions policies for that fall. The Urban Institute reported that the number of four-year colleges and universities going test-optional nearly doubled in one year, from […]
Posted inPolitics
Congress: Don’t Forget About Freelancers When Considering Healthcare Premium Tax Credit
Throughout my career as a nonprofit communications professional and small business owner, I’ve had something in common with athletes: When I get hurt, I have to walk it off. For more than 30 years, I was health insurance insecure. Occasionally, I had health benefits through full-time jobs, but mostly I relied on a patchwork of […]
Posted inPolitics
It’s Time to Restore Sanity to Pesticide Labeling
In any functioning market, consumers deserve information they can trust — and businesses need clear rules they can follow. Accurate, science-based product labels are essential to that balance. But when states start imposing their own special-interest-driven labeling mandates, science is thrown out the window and consumers are left to fend for themselves. Just look at […]
Posted inHealthcare
Shutdown Fight Masks Real Issues With Healthcare
The recent federal government shutdown was an unnecessary political gesture. However, it did, albeit in a roundabout way, help highlight what is wrong with healthcare in this country. The debate this time was over whether to extend COVID-era Affordable Care Act subsidies and premium tax credits. Those subsidies, like the debate over whether to continue […]
Posted inHealthcare
Great News — Britain to Pay More for U.S. Drugs
There’s some good news for President Trump amid economic and legal uncertainty over his tariff agenda. The administration has an agreement under which the United Kingdom’s National Health Service will increase the prices it pays for new, patented U.S. medicine by 25 percent while lowering the concessions it demands from U.S. drugmakers under various rebate schemes. In return, the United […]
Posted inLifestyle
The Myths That Keep Veterans From Getting Benefits
Those who serve in the military put themselves in harm’s way to protect the country in its time of need, and benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs are in place to return that protection when they need it. Unfortunately, an increasing number of veterans are finding their claims being denied. The VA claims […]
Posted inPolitics
Government Shutdowns Are a Reminder To Privatize
Federal government shutdowns mean many things to different people. For ordinary Americans, they are a reminder of dysfunction in Washington. For partisans, they are an opportunity to blame the other side. But they can also be an opportunity for Americans to reconsider how and why the federal government does some of the things it does […]
Posted inPolitics
From Store Shelves to Human Smuggling, USA-IT Summit Confronts New Face of Organized Crime
National law enforcement and local retail groups want Americans to understand that the problem of illicit trade — counterfeiting, organized retail crime, and human trafficking — is bigger and more dangerous than most people realize. How big? Illegal trade is a $2.2 trillion criminal enterprise that crosses every national boundary and reaches every shopper’s laptop. […]