The report submitted by Edison Schools on Philadelphia's public education system paints a somewhat misleading picture of the condition that city's schools are in, writes Mike Casserly of the Council of the Great City Schools in an op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer.  While agreeing that schools in the City of Brotherly Love need dramatic improvement, Casserly complains that the report presents incomplete data and makes unfair comparisons.  While Edison indicates that scores on the SAT-9 are below basic in middle and high schools, the report fails to mention that elementary schools, where the district has focused its Children Achieving reforms, are at or above national norms. Edison says that the system made "limited gains" during Philadelphia's reforms but, says Casserly, the percentage of fourth graders reading at or above basic levels rose from 43.7 percent to 59.7 percent in four years.  He also argues that Edison's comparison of Philadelphia with other urban districts is skewed by the choice of comparison districts (Clark County (Las Vegas), Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale) and Houston), which are very different from Philadelphia demographically, structurally, and regionally.  While noting that the Philadelphia community is ready for change, Casserly chides Edison for missing an opportunity to build public trust with a fair assessment of its schools. "Company's report doesn't inspire trust," by Michael Casserly, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 11, 2001.

edited by Thomas C. Hunt, Ellis A. Joseph and Ronald J. Nuzzi, September 2001

Anyone interested in private schools generally and Catholic schools particularly will want to know of this research volume, edited by Thomas C. Hunt, Ellis A. Joseph and Ronald J. Nuzzi.  Weighing in at 320 pages, it contains 13 essays on a wide variety of education issues related to Catholic schools. These range from history to guidance counseling, from governance to parenting, from curriculum to administration, from finance to effectiveness (this last being written by our colleague Bruno V. Manno). Lots of data, lots of citations and lots of interesting facts and conclusions, much of it distilled from other research over the years. Though not an exciting book, it's a very useful one, the more so as the U.S. Supreme Court ponders the constitutionality of the Cleveland voucher program. The ISBN is 0313313415. The publisher is Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881. You can find ordering information on-line at http://www.greenwood.com/books/BookDetail.asp?dept_id=1&sku=GR1341.

Jay Greene, Black Alliance for Educational Options and the Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan Institute, November 2001

This week, the Black Alliance for Educational Options and the Manhattan Institute's Center for Civic Innovation released a new study by Jay P. Greene that examines the surprisingly complex issue of high school graduation rates. Surprising and sobering, too. Greene disputes the federal estimate of an overall 86% graduation rate (as it includes GEDs and relies on dubious analytic methods) and concludes from his own analysis that the U.S. high school graduation rate in 1998 was just 74%, including 78% of whites and a deeply troubling 56% and 54% among black and Latino youngsters respectively. These rates turn out to vary hugely by state (consider 93% in Iowa, 57% in Georgia) and by city (87% in Fairfax County, Virginia, 43% in Milwaukee, 28% in Cleveland). Though state and municipal differences are clearly influenced by the racial composition of their student bodies, that doesn't tell the whole story. For example, 85% of Boston's African-American students graduate, compared with 34% in Louisville. Other factors must also be at work. While graduation rates alone are not a satisfactory gauge of educational performance - it's possible to pump them up by making it easier to graduate - from a young person's standpoint it matters hugely throughout life whether he/she has a high-school diploma.  As Greene says, "The graduation rates reported in this study...convey strongly that far fewer students are graduating high school than we may have believed and far fewer than we would wish."  You can get a copy most expeditiously by surfing to http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_baeo.htm.

John E. Stone, George K. Cunningham and Donald B. Crawford, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, October 2001

A pair of studies recently crossed our desks that address the quality and preparation of schoolteachers in Oklahoma. This one (see below for a review of the other), prepared on behalf of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, contains an essay by John E. Stone on whether the state's current efforts to improve teacher quality are "paying off." (Answer: No, they're faddish, unproven and out of sync with what parents and policymakers want.) It also contains an essay by George K. Cunningham and Donald B. Crawford that explores whether "national standards" will improve Oklahoma's teacher quality. (Answer: No. "Under the guise of vaguely stated pedagogical reforms, NCTAF, NCATE, NBPTS, and INTASC are promoting the adoption of an approach to teaching that is at odds with the educational aims of the public. In effect, new teachers are being taught beliefs, methods and attitudes which will undermine Oklahoma's efforts to improve student achievement.") You can obtain this study from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Inc., 100 W. Wilshire, Suite C-3, Oklahoma City, OK 73116. E-mail [email protected]. Phone (405) 843-9212. Or surf to http://www.ocpathink.org/Pages/PolicyPaper01-7.html.

Katrina Bulkley, Education Policy Analysis Archives, 9(37), October 1, 2001

Katrina Bulkley of the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education has written a perceptive, troubling paper on charter school accountability, now available online. She argues that the theory may be out of whack with the reality. The theory holds that a charter authorizer will terminate a school that doesn't deliver its promised academic (and other) results. Bulkley suggests, admittedly on the basis of preliminary and fragmentary evidence, that this rarely happens; that when charters are terminated it's for other reasons (e.g. fiscal shenanigans); and that "there are very few examples of charter schools that have been closed primarily because of failure to demonstrate educational performance or improvement." She examines several possible explanations. One of them is the scary nature of the "all or nothing" decision about charter renewal at a time when a number of schools are demonstrating partial success. Another is that "a number of authorizers are themselves politically invested in the success of the charter school 'movement'." There's more, including some perceptive, if rather general, suggestions about what might be done differently. You can find this paper at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v9n37.html.

Mark Y. Herring, Oklahoma Association of Scholars, October 2001

This report examines existing teacher-preparation programs in Oklahoma's universities and finds them sorely wanting. The gist is that these programs have minimal "quality control" and their courses "lack academic content and poorly prepare students for the academic rigors of classroom teaching. Indeed, the discipline-specific degree requirements for education majors are weaker than those for students who do not train to teach the discipline." A number of sensible recommendations are made. You can obtain a (PDF) copy online at http://www.nas.org/affiliates/oklahoma/okla_edschools.pdf or a hard copy by phoning (609) 683-7878, by emailing [email protected], or by writing the National Association of Scholars, 221 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08542.

Matthew Ladner, Children First America, July 2001

In partnership with the Children's Scholarship Fund, school choice giant Children First America (CFA) has issued the fifth edition of a report surveying the growth and status of America's privately funded voucher programs (PVPs).  What began as a single program serving fewer than 750 kids in Indianapolis in 1991, has grown to more than 100 PVPs today that reach over 100,000 students - the overwhelming majority of them urban, low-income minorities.  The report summarizes the results of CFA's survey of PVPs, which found that the average dollar amounts awarded are up and applications are way up, with the ratio of applicants to voucher recipients at approximately 5 to 1.  Also provided are a brief description of how scholarship-supporting Student Tuition Organizations (STOs) have flourished in Arizona as a result of the state's education tax credit, an overview of the body of rigorous research that supports school choice, and an analysis of the impact of the CEO Horizon Program - the nation's largest PVP, and the only one devoted to an entire school district - on San Antonio's Edgewood School District.  For more, including an extensive state-by-state appendix of PVP contact information, see http://childrenfirstamerica.org/JDI5.pdf.  Or order a hard copy from Children First America, P.O. Box 330, Bentonville, AR 72712; phone 501-273-6957; fax 501-273-9362.

Public Agenda, November 14, 2001

The ever-valuable research organization named Public Agenda has just opened another fascinating window onto contemporary education policy debates. At a time when school reformers are rightly concerned about school leadership, Public Agenda (this time underwritten by the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds) surveyed 1800 public school principals and superintendents. The data are fascinating and sobering, many of them tantamount to a strong endorsement of policies akin to charter schools. Here (in Public Agenda's words) are some of the main conclusions: "Superintendents and principals...voice confidence that they can improve public education, but say their effectiveness is hampered by politics and bureaucracy....What superintendents and principals need most, they say, is more freedom to do their jobs as they see fit - especially the freedom to reward and fire teachers....School leaders are far less worried about standards and accountability than about politics and bureaucracy....." You will almost surely want to see for yourself. You can download a summary (and, until November 30, the entire report) from Public Agenda's website, http://www.publicagenda.org. You can also buy a hard copy for $12.50 from Public Agenda, 6 East 39^th Street, New York, NY 10016. E-mail [email protected] or phone (212) 686-6610.

A program aiming to place talented leaders from government, business, non-profits, higher ed, and the military as superintendents in urban school districts has been launched by the Broad Center for Superintendents, an organization established by the Broad Foundation and Michigan Governor John Engler. The Broad Urban Superintendents Academy is currently recruiting fellows for its first class, which will be launched in 2002. For details, see www.broadcenter.org.

With Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker on the verge of transferring control of the Philadelphia's school system from local officials to his own appointees, who would then put its management in the hands of Edison Schools, a pair of articles in The Philadelphia Inquirer examines two questions: Do state takeovers of school systems work? And can Edison fix failing schools?  Governors and legislatures in 18 states have taken full or partial control of 40 districts, reports Dale Mezzacappa, and while such takeovers have been effective in rooting out mismanagement, balancing budgets, and filling supply-room shelves, rarely has a takeover yielded much success in boosting student achievement. That's been the story in New Jersey, where the state took over three urban districts, including Newark. In Maryland, where the state took control of three failing schools and entrusted them to Edison in 2000, results have been mixed. To be sure, very little time has passed yet. So far, however, in one school, scores have soared, in another, there was modest improvement, and in a third, they fell. Parents and teachers in the three schools are now among Edison's strongest supporters, but district officials complain that Edison's contract allows it to play by rules that give it unfair advantages. (Among other things, the company has lured veteran teachers away from other Baltimore schools by offering better work conditions, higher pay (in return for longer work hours), and performance bonuses.) See "Lessons from School Takeovers," by Dale Mezzacappa, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 4, 2001, and "In Baltimore, Edison fixes schools while facing critics," by Dale Mezzacappa, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 5, 2001.