The Nuts & Bolts of Charter Districts
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Education Commission of the StatesMay 2003
Factors Affecting Mathematics Achievement for Students in Rural Schools
Kathleen Porter-MageeGene Bottoms and Kathleen Carpenter, Southern Regional Education BoardMay 2003
The least-known side of charter schools
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Plenty has been written about charter schools and how they are (and aren't) doing, but practically nobody has looked carefully at the organizations that give birth to them, raise them, oversee them, hold them accountable, and decide whether or not they will get their charters renewed.
Students speak up on education reform
In March, a group of five education reform-minded Yale undergrads, who had won first prize and $25,000 in cash in the Yale Entrepreneurial Society's 50K competition, published the inaugural edition of Our Education, a journal of education reform put out by the student-led nonprofit "Students for Teachers." [For the Gadfly's review of this journal, go to
Hear ye the facts: schools win in court
In contrast to the general sense among school administrators that they are besieged by lawsuits, it turns out that courts tend to rule in favor of schools over both parents and teachers, the two groups most like to sue schools or districts. Since the 1985 Supreme Court case New Jersey v.
Law would align teacher training with NCLB
Last week, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce took up the Ready to Teach Act (H.R. 2211), the first of any number of bills that will feed into reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. This one seeks to align teacher-training programs with the high standards for accountability and results mandated by No Child Left Behind.
Tough time for charters
Kathleen Porter-MageeIn recent weeks, opportunistic charter school adversaries have been having a field day - using state budget crunches and low test scores to fuel the anti-charter fire. In Massachusetts, for example, the state Senate passed a three-year moratorium on the creation or expansion of charter schools, claiming that they are "draining" limited funds from the public school system.
What's on TAP
The Milken Family Foundation has created a new (electronic) newsletter tied to its pathbreaking Teacher Advancement Program, but also addressing broader issues of teacher quality. The inaugural issue contains an interesting overview of teacher "pay for performance": where it's been tried, what's happened, what can be learned.
The Effects of Magnet Schools on Neighborhood High Schools: An Examination of Achievement among Entering Freshmen
Eric OsbergRuth Curran Neild, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of EducationApril 11, 2003
No Child Left Behind: A Guide for Small and Rural Districts
Terry RyanAmerican Association of School Administrators and National Association of State Boards of EducationApril, 2003
Mapping School Choice in Massachusetts: Data and Findings 2003
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Kathryn McDermott et. al., MassINC2003
Closing the Achievement Gaps: Using Data to Drive ActionClosing the Achievement Gaps: Collecting and Analyzing Your School's Data
David L. House IIParent Leadership Associates2003
A New Core Curriculum For All: Aiming High For Other People's Children
Kathleen Porter-MageePatte Barth, The Education TrustWinter 2003Education Watch: Achievement, Attainment, and Opportunity from Elementary School Through CollegeThe Education TrustWinter 2003
No tests = less cash for GA
The U.S. Department of Education announced on Tuesday that, because Georgia is not administering end-of-course tests this year, it has the dubious honor of being the first state to have funding withheld for failure to comply with the 1994 amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
Republicans work to remake Head Start
Responding to President Bush's call to improve Head Start, the 38-year-old federal program designed to increase educational opportunities for low-income preschoolers, House Republicans introduced a reform plan designed to close the school "readiness gap" that exists between low-income youngsters and their more affluent peers when they begin kindergarten.
Self-serving unions?
Jeff Jacoby, columnist for the Globe, uses - of all things - the Jayson Blair scandal to jump off to a pretty boisterous condemnation of teacher unions.
Standards and choice to improve education
Standards and choice, say the authors of this very brief policy brief, should go hand-in-hand in raising educational achievement. Robert Holland and Dan Soifer of the Lexington Institute applaud Virginia schools for increasing the number of students who have passed the state's rigorous Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment tests.
High schools at the top of their class
Newsweek, playing catch-up to the influential if overrated college rankings in U.S. News & World Report, has a published the third edition of its list of the nation's 100 best public high schools, based only on rates of participation in AP and international baccalaureate classes.
Training teachers in the Bay State
Boston, like many school districts, faces a double whammy when it comes to teachers. Retention rates are low, with more than half of new teachers leaving the district or even the profession within three years. And more than half of all Boston teachers will soon be eligible for retirement.
Why pay twice?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Public schools in Oregon closed three weeks early this year and the Michigan legislature may allow that state's school systems to operate four days a week.
Trends in the Use of School Choice: 1993 to 1999
Stacey Bielick and Christopher Chapman, National Center for Education StatisticsMay 2003
The ABC's of AYP: Raising Achievement for All Students
David L. House IIThe Education TrustSpring 2003
High Schools on a Human Scale: How Small Schools Can Transform American Education
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Tom Toch, Beacon Press2003
Better Leaders for America's Schools
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Few deny that U.S. public schools and districts need better leaders than many of them now have - or that the pressure of NCLB's performance expectations plus the surge of retirements among principals and superintendents will inflame this need in the years ahead. But where to find such people? What to look for? How to prepare them? On what terms to employ them? This week, the Thomas B.
The Hidden Crisis in the High School Dropout Problems of Young Adults in the U.S.: Recent Trends in Overall School Dropout Rates and Gender Differences in Dropout Behavior
Andrew Sum and Paul Harrington, The Business RoundtableMay 2003
Caps, Gowns, and Games: High School Graduates and NCLB
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Christopher B. Swanson, The Urban InstituteMay 2003
Profile of Learning pitched in MN
After a five-year battle to replace Minnesota's disgraceful Profile of Learning standards with a more rigorous set of academic standards and accountability - a fight led by Governor Tim Pawlenty and education secretary Cheri Pearson Yecke-the state legislature finally reached a bipartisan agreement to repeal the standards minutes before the close of this year's session.
CA schools paid extra to do the minimum
A recent article in the Sacramento Bee uncovered a questionable education finance plan in California dating back to 1979 that forces the state to provide extra money to schools that meet bare minimum requirements for carrying out state mandates.
Crossing the Ideological Divide
Thomas J. LasleyAs Checker says, it's true that we need better school leadership to improve American K-12 education. With a large percentage of U.S.