Annual "Profiles" reports are comprehensive digests of data on education management organizations. Analysis and interpretation of the data in this report are, for the most part, limited to describing general trends over time. The report is intended for a broad audience. Policymakers, educators, school district officials, and school board…

Our corporate society has produced an educational marketplace that forces public schools to compete merely to survive. Brevard County Schools (Florida) have allowed their constituents freedom of choice for over 20 years. The payoff: only 4.7 percent of Brevard County students attend private schools, compared with a national figure of 10.5 percent.…

Excellence in education might best be achieved if a wide variety of educational options were made available to satisfy the broad diversity of student needs, if parents were allowed free choice among schools, and if parents, teachers, and principals worked together to make each school responsive to its unique constituency. (PGD)

Ordered to desegregate, the Lowell (Massachusetts) Public Schools followed parent wishes and successfully provided a variety of magnet schools to encourage voluntary desegregation. Creation of these schools provided an opportunity for reviewing and improving the educational system as a whole. (PGD)

States that central to any efforts to improve urban schools is the relationship between the school managers and the teachers' union. Recommendations include creating learner-centered schools; focusing on improving the knowledge and skills of teachers; negotiating "Living Contracts"; and expanding school choice by making public schools…

A Florida county, under a federal court order to desegregate its schools, adopted a plan of controlled school choice approved by the federal court. The county was divided into three zones that roughly reflected the school system's racial composition. A computerized lottery, with provisions for keeping siblings together and attractive programs for…

Argues that radical shifts in school governance arising from wider social, political, and economic relations challenge past notions of leadership and that the basics of socially just learning systems would be responsibility, recognition, and reciprocity. (Contains 62 references.) (MLF)

Parents observing the national debate about educational choice may believe that choice possesses characteristics that are both positive and negative at the same time. The definition of choice should stem from the amount of choice provided. Unrestricted choice allows parents to choose any school in the state. Restricted choice has limitations such…

This guide, first in a series of four volumes, is designed to give information to parents and other decision makers on costs and benefits of different kinds of choices of schools that children might attend. Four sections present digests of information based on research and evaluation studies. Section 1 introduces the format and purpose of the…

Reviews recent federal court findings in three legal areas: the responsibility of public schools to reimburse tuition costs for special education students placed in appropriate private programs, parents' rights to sue for damages when special education placement is inadequate, and students' freedom to incorporate sexual innuendo into speeches.…

Presents results of a survey of school superintendents concerning impacts of school choice. Cites improved parent participation, interdistrict competition, educational opportunities for those of limited means, and identification of districts needing special services as reasons favoring parental choice. Reports that superintendents identified…

U.S. Secretary of Education, William J. Bennett, expressed concerns about the condition of U.S. education in the areas of content, character, and choice. This document comprises the papers of 12 scholars on the public policy and the research implications of this theme. Three addresses were given on the issue of content by Russell Kirk, Thomas…

Outlines a plan for school attendance near family workplace. Advantages include wider school choice and a new approach to integrating schools. Some disadvantages include transportation and child care needs. (MD)

The one-size-fits-all public schools inherited from the nineteenth century can be transformed if parents have the right to choose schools their children will attend. Schools of choice will improve both the attitudes and performance of students. Teachers and administrators will be more professional, and school boards can meet their responsibilities…

This report suggests that charter schools need to consider six critical questions as they develop a student accountability plan for their school. These questions are: (1) "What is our school's mission?"; (2) "What do we want our students to know and be able to do?"; (3) "How will we know whether our students are achieving or attaining the goals…