I recently visited United Preparatory Academy (UPrep). It’s a charter school serving students in grades K-4 (growing to grade five) located in Franklinton—one of Columbus’s poorest neighborhoods, where the median household income is thirty percent lower than the city-wide average.
School choice is becoming more and more common across the country, creating more and more stories of student and family success. The Foundation for Excellence in Education wants to hear as many success stories as possible and has launched a contest to find them.
When it comes to gauging the performance of Ohio’s public charter schools, unfair comparisons and generalizations are all too common.
By expanding access to options including charters, choice advocates hope that more students will reap the benefits of attending high-performing schools. But do all families have charter options in their area?
NOTE: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute occasionally publishes guest commentaries on its blogs. The views expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect those of Fordham.
On this week's podcast, special guest Scott Pearson, executive director of the DC Public Charter School Board, joins Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk to discuss the pros, cons, and challenges of closing low-performing schools. During the Research Minute, David Griffith explores why unionized charter schools in California perform better.
NOTE: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute occasionally publishes guest commentaries on its blogs. The views expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect those of Fordham.
On this week's podcast, special guest Derrell Bradford, the executive vice president of 50CAN, joins Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk to discuss Fordham’s new report on teacher absenteeism. During the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines what happened to student outcomes when desegregation orders came to an end in the 1990s.
Research confirms what common sense dictates: Students learn less when their teachers aren’t there. According to multiple studies, a ten-day increase in teacher absence results in at least ten fewer days of learning for students.
It’s no secret that high-quality early childhood education can lead to significant and positive short-term impacts for children, particularly those from disadvantaged circumstances.
On this week's podcast, special guest David Osborne, a director at the Progressive Policy Institute, joins Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk to discuss his new book, Reinventing America’s Schools. During the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a blockbuster study finding that the over-identification of minority children in special education is a myth.
On this week's podcast, special guest Jessica Sutter, founder and president of EdPro Consulting, joins Alyssa Schwenk and Brandon Wright to discuss Secretary DeVos’s thoughts on accountability for schools of choice. During the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines student safety in Detroit charter schools.
Charter opponents have long claimed that charter schools siphon resources away from the traditional public school system.
On this week's podcast, Mike Petrilli, Brandon Wright, and David Griffith discuss Education Next’s new poll and what might be driving the surprising results regarding charter schools and vouchers. During the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how dual-enrollment affects college degree attainment.
The big squeeze continues. Ohio’s charter sector shrinks again as reforms enacted in 2012 and 2015 are fully implemented. The Buckeye State will see a record-low number of new charter schools open this fall, a slow-down that persists for the third year in a row.
Last month, the Center for Research on Educational Options (CREDO) at Stanford University released a new analysis of the performance of charter management networks, entities that may be engaged to oversee the day-to-day operations of a charter school.
At the end of June, Governor John Kasich vetoed a provision in the state budget bill that would have changed school grading calculations for purposes of evaluating the performance of Ohio’s charter
An average of forty-four million unique visitors use GreatSchools every year to check out schools in their area and elsewhere.
In a provocative headline, a recent Wall Street Journal article proclaimed that “Rural America Is the New ‘Inner City.’” The piece profiles Kenton, Ohio, along with several other towns across the nation that have recently suffered population losses, sluggish economies, and surging substance abuse.
Among high school students who consider dropping out, half cite lack of engagement with the school as a primary reason, and 42 percent report that they don’t see value in the schoolwork they are asked to do.
Recently, several school districts asked to be repaid a chunk of the money that the state of Ohio is attempting to recover from the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT); House Bill 87, currently pending in the General Assembly, would grant them their wish.
NOTE: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute occasionally publishes guest commentaries on its blogs. The views expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect those of Fordham.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election and his selection of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, a lot of attention has been focused on school choice.
The best advice my wife and I received on how to manage daily life with newly born twin daughters was from our pediatrician: get them on a schedule. Any schedule that works for you is fine, but it should be the same schedule for both children, and stick to it. It was a great insight from a pro and it has served us well.
In case you missed it, Fordham released a new report last week: a first-of-its-kind analysis of the districts and the students utilizing open enrollment across district boundaries in the Buckeye State, focusing on which districts did and did not open their borders and on
NOTES: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute occasionally publishes guest commentaries on its blogs. The views expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect those of Fordham.
In April, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos toured the Van Wert school district in rural northwestern Ohio along with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. In such sparsely populated communities, private and charter schools are usually scarce.
Posted just six hours after the close of Mother’s Day, this eerily titled article, “Some school districts tail parents to check where family actually lives,” discussed the lengths to which some parents go to enroll their child in a “desirable school
Inequity in the City—the work of veteran authors of charter-school funding studies, including Inequity’s Next Frontier, Inequity Persists, and <
