Displaying 6271-6300 of 6428 results
Report
4.21.2005
Charter Schools

Testimony Prepared for the Alternative Education Subcommittee

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Terry Ryan

On April 21, 2005, Fordham President Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Program Director Terry Ryan testified before the Alternative Education Subcommittee of the Ohio House of Representatives. They discussed Ohio's community schools (a.k.a. charter schools), which face a developing paradox: the more they expand and the more students they serve, the more threatened they become, by internal and external forces alike.

Commentary
3.23.2005

The Public Schools

Eric Osberg

Susan H. Fuhrman and Marvin Lazerson, editors, Oxford University PressApril 2005

Commentary
2.9.2005

More Vouchers for Ohio?

Ohio's generally risk-averse Governor Bob Taft is expected to astound the Buckeye State today with a budget-message proposal to expand the Cleveland voucher program such that kids trapped in some 70 chronically low-performing public schools elsewhere in Ohio could exit with $3,500 state vouchers in hand, redeemable in participating private schools.

Commentary
2.2.2005

The state of the charter movement, 2005

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

The President reported last evening on the state of the union. Allow me to appraise the state of America's charter-school movement in early 2005.

Commentary
1.24.2005

Ohio Charter Schools: Another View

In a new policy brief released by the Buckeye Institute, we analyzed the changes in student passing rates on Ohio Proficiency Tests (OPT) made by traditional and charter schools in the Big Eight urban districts between 2002 and 2004. Using a statistical analysis that controlled for the demographic characteristics of race and income, our study found that:

Commentary
1.24.2005

We're Not in Kansas Anymore: The Evolution Wars Come to Ohio

The debate over teaching evolution in schools, which has been going on in America at least since the famous Scopes "Monkey Trial" of 1925, burst onto the front pages of Ohio newspapers in early January. What's it all about? And where does Fordham stand? Read on.

Commentary
11.10.2004

Gray skies in San Diego

Two recent developments in San Diego threaten the viability of reform-minded Superintendent Alan Bersin and his "Blueprint for Change" - a series of worthy district-wide reforms championed by this remarkable public servant and his (until now) 3-2 majority on the school board.

Commentary
10.27.2004

Three races to watch

On November 3, we may or may not have a new president, and we know that this election season hasn't seen much action on the education front besides a bidding war on No Child Left Behind. But at the state level, there are a few races worth watching on election night if you're an education reformer. Here are three:

Report
9.1.2004
Charter Schools

A Wide-Angle Look at the Charter School Movement in Ohio/Dayton, circa September 2004

Terry Ryan

Charter school opponents have been taking shots nationally at charter schools in recent days, but these sorts of attacks have been a common occurrence in Dayton, Ohio since charter schools first opened there in 1998. Herewith is a report from the field on how charter schools are faring in the Buckeye State circa September 2004.

Commentary
8.25.2004

Archaic architecture, creaky machinery

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

When Uncle Sam started poking into K-12 education in the 1950s and 60s, he adopted a delivery system that made sense at the time.In our federalist structure, with rare exceptions, education is a state responsibility and, when it comes to public education, the states (but for Hawaii) have delegated its operation to local school systems. Thus long before there was a U.S.

Commentary
6.30.2004

Data deluge in Ohio

A few weeks ago, we reported on strong gains among charter schools sponsored by Central Michigan University, with data drawn from Standard & Poor's school evaluation services website (see

Commentary
6.2.2004

Breaking the textbook lock

Philanthropy magazine has a primer for philanthropists and others on efforts to break the textbook monopoly and inject high-quality, content-rich books into the market.

Commentary
4.28.2004

Democracy Tweed style

Andrew Wolf

The next step in New York City's education "reform" will be perhaps the least democratic school board election ever held.

Commentary
4.14.2004

Be afraid, be very afraid

After years of trying to squelch charter schools and other choice efforts, the National Education Association seems to have decided:  "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Beginning last October, in its publication California Educator, California's NEA affiliate - the California Teachers Association - began to p

Report
3.26.2004
School Finance, Charter Schools

School Finance in Dayton: A Comparison of the Revenues of the School District and Community Schools

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Bryan C. Hassel, Michelle Godard Terrell

This report, prepared for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute by Public Impact, compares charter school funding and district school funding. It finds that charter schools are under-funded compared to their district counterparts, even after accounting for differences in students and grade levels. These findings should be taken seriously by those who argue that charter schools drain funds from district schools.

Commentary
2.25.2004

The learning that was

The great British historian, Lord Macaulay, thought that talk of some sort of "golden age" was nonsense. "No man who is correctly informed as to the past, will be disposed to take a morose or desponding view of the present," he noted.

Report
11.14.2003
Governance

Having Their Say: The Views of Dayton-area Parents on Education

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Terry Ryan

Much has changed in education in Dayton during the past two years. The remarkable election of a 'reform' majority to the Dayton school board, and the selection of a new superintendent. Passage of a huge levy for school-building construction and renewal. The arrival of the politics-governance Act and Ohio's Senate Bill 1. The dramatic growth of the charter-school sector and of controversy surrounding it. Some ferment on the high-school reform front. And much more. Thus, it seemed time to once again 'take the community's temperature' with respect to a wide array of K-12 education issues. Herewith are the results.

Commentary
9.17.2003

A Tale of Two Schools

Last Saturday's Washington Post reported on two underperforming area schools, one on Virginia and one in Maryland. At Maury Elementary in Alexandria-the only school in the Virginia suburbs of D.C. to be identified as "needing improvement" under No Child Left Behind-13 percent of students have transferred to other area schools, private and public.