Discovery Institute's education expert applauds Idaho's move towards student-centered learning

He recommends a game plan for advancing education reform

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May 01, 2019, 16:08 ET

BOISE, Idaho, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- "Idaho's model education legislation is an outstanding step in the right direction," according to Don Nielsen, former Seattle School Board President and author of Every School: One Citizen's Guide To Transforming Education.

He was referring to the legislature's work with the Governor to eliminate the cap on the 20 schools that can enter the state's pilot program for "mastery-based education."

"Next up Idaho should move forward in creating 'Institutes for Educational Leadership,'" explained Nielsen, and added that, "These institutes would have extraordinarily high admission standards, and would be populated with instructors from business, education, and public policy schools as well as leaders from business, the military, and current school systems."

Nielsen went on, "I support charter schools, but I also support the notion of allowing innovation to occur in the existing public system, both at the school level and at the district level."

Nielsen's book, Every School was originally published in 2014 by Discovery Institute, where Nielsen is a senior fellow at the Institute's American Center for Transforming Education.

"I have revised Every School and updated it with a chapter dealing with a 'Game Plan' for a state," said Nielsen. "The earlier edition dealt with the major issues, but not a plan and now this new edition does both."

SOURCE Discovery Institute