Displaying 1-30 of 917 results
Commentary
6.21.2021
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Preparation that helps first year teacher gets results: Three lessons learned

Kevin Hall

I have such vivid memories of my first day of my first year of teaching. Kids filling into their desks—so many different personalities, moving pieces, things to keep track of. That first class seemed to both fly by and stretch on for eternity. At the end, I was wiped. I had no idea how I’d do this four more times that day and then 180 more times this year.

Commentary
6.3.2021
Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Charter schools at 30: Looking back, looking ahead

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Bruno V. Manno

Today, forty-four states—plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam—have public charter school laws on their statute books, laws that have led to more than 7,500 schools employing 200,000-plus teachers and serving 3.3 million students.

Podcast
5.20.2021
Charter Schools

The Education Gadfly Show #770: Hooray for Florida’s new school choice legislation

  On this week’s podcast, Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up for Students, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the potential impact of and lessons from Florida’s new school choice expansion. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how users engage with professional learning that takes place online.

Commentary
5.6.2021
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Cancel culture versus parent choice

Terry Ryan

Can parent choice survive the cancel culture that is becoming ever more prevalent on both the political left and political right? What happens when the principles of diversity and choice in schools conflict with either the left’s or the right’s firm view of truth and falsehoods?

Commentary
4.22.2021
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Not all non-traditional schooling is created equal

Julie Fitz

When we imagine the typical school, at least one from the pre-pandemic era, generally the first thing that comes to mind is a teacher instructing a classroom full of students. But the scene can be quite different for California’s 190,000-plus students who attend charter schools where at least 20 percent of their instruction takes place outside of this traditional setting.

Commentary
3.25.2021
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

CDC school guidelines, acceleration, stimulus, and other goings-on

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

The CDC’s revised guidelines for pupil spacing in school—three feet under most circumstances rather than six—opened a floodgate of gratitude from superintendents and parents.

Commentary
3.18.2021
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

School choice proves no match for wokeness

Robert Pondiscio

School choice proponents argue that when parents vote with their feet—and dollars—schools listen. But choice is no match for the pandemic of wokeness that has seized K–12 education. The most advantaged, privileged, and powerful parents in America have been cowed into submissive silence when elite schools of choice adopt neoracist practices masquerading as “anti-racism.”

Commentary
3.12.2021
Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Power to the people: Further reflections

Bruno V. Manno

The Fordham Institute has published a two-part piece by Checker Finn on giving “power to the people,” as well as

Commentary
3.11.2021
Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Working with communities is hard and complex—and vital

M. Karega Rausch

Centering the work of charter schooling and authorizing in communities means listening to the aspirations and needs they have for students—especially communities that have been overlooked and not prioritized, like communities of color, those from lower-income tax brackets, and those with disabilities—and delivering with, not to, them.

Commentary
3.4.2021
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Jay Mathews’s admirable optimism about American education

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Yes, I blurbed it—and I like it. Yes, a visitor to our home, a worldly and skeptical sort, hefted it and looked at the title and asked me “Isn’t that awfully thick for a book about optimism regarding American public education?”

Commentary
2.9.2021
Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Charter Schools

Are charter schools a drain on district finances?

David Griffith, Michael J. Petrilli

Should President Biden follow through on his campaign promise to grant local school districts veto power over the creation of new charter schools within their borders, on the assumption that their expansion harms traditional public schools?

Report
2.9.2021
School Finance, Charter Schools

Robbers or Victims? Charter Schools and District Finances

Mark Weber

Opponents of charters contend that they drain district coffers, while proponents argue that it is charters that are denied essential funding. Yet too often, the claims made by both sides of this debate have been based on assumptions rather than hard evidence.

Commentary
2.4.2021
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders

How ya gonna keep ‘em back in that old school?

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

If the pandemic vanished tomorrow and all U.S. schools instantly reopened in exactly the same fashion as they were operating last February, how many parents would be satisfied to return their daughters and sons to the same old familiar classrooms, teachers, schedules and curricula? A lot fewer than the same old schools and those who run and teach in them are expecting back!

Commentary
2.3.2021
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Unexpected innovation: Charter schools and novice teacher development

Bill Waychunas

Let’s start with a little game. Trust me, it will be helpful if you play along… Grab a piece of paper and a writing utensil. Complete the following sentence: First-year or early-career teachers typically struggle most with… (Try to come up with a few answers.)

Podcast
1.28.2021
Charter Schools

The Education Gadfly Show: School Choice Week 2021

  On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week, which is this week, to discuss how the school choice m

Commentary
1.28.2021
Career & Technical Education, Charter Schools

Career and technical education and the soft bigotry of low expectations

Tamar Jacoby

Beware the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” President George W. Bush’s trenchant warning resonated across the political spectrum when he voiced it to the NAACP in 2000, and it has more or less driven federal education policy ever since. For many, educators and noneducators alike, it remains a touchstone of how to think about racial equity.

Commentary
1.14.2021
Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Charter schools are a Band-Aid when a heart transplant is needed

Marc Tucker

This post is adapted from an email conversation between Marc Tucker and Fordham’s Michael J. Petrilli, in which Marc was responding to Mike’s recent article, “The case for urban charter schools.” It also appeared in Fordham’s Flypaper newsletter.

Commentary
12.23.2020
Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

It’s not news that Miguel Cardona is a charter school authorizer—and that’s worth celebrating

Alex Medler

President-Elect Biden has confirmed that he will nominate Dr. Miguel A. Cardona to serve as the next U.S. Secretary of Education. He appears to be a prudent choice for Biden, earning support from teachers unions and education reform groups, including charter operators. Cardona is the current Connecticut Commissioner of Education.

Commentary
12.17.2020
School Finance, Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Mind the gap: Persistent and growing inequities in charter school funding

Victoria McDougald

Like traditional public schools, charter schools are publicly funded according to student enrollment. But compared to their district counterparts, charters have long received far less per-pupil funding.