Across the nation, urban school districts struggle to raise often abysmally low high school graduation rates. New York City, with a four-year graduation rate of 57 percent, is no exception. Yet, some high schools in New York, as elsewhere, succeed beyond expectations in bringing students with low academic skills and high needs to graduation in…

New York State currently has three charter school authorizing agencies. Until now, their oversight has focused on performance based, contractual, and regulatory accountability. An emerging literature suggests that authorizers are reluctant to actualize the accountability/autonomy exchange by closing schools for failure to meet performance targets.…

This report synthesizes the year 2 findings of a 3-year qualitative study of autonomy, accountability, finance, and supports in New York City charter schools. In 2000-2001, the study sample included 10 schools (8 charter and 2 alternative schools considering charter status). Section 1 reviews the literature on supports provided to traditional…

Investigates the implications of charter school choice for equity, discussing three standards of equity (racial balance, resources, and outcome). Reviews the equity provisions of state charter legislation, research on who chooses charter schools for their children and why, and analyses of the demographic characteristics of charter school students.…

Evaluated achievement data on low- and high-performing urban elementary and middle school students and data on teacher characteristics, investigating relationships between teacher quality and student achievement. While poverty and minority status may have negatively influenced school achievement, they were exacerbated by stresses created by the…

This paper provides a review of three related literatures on urban education: the demographic characteristics of the students and communities served by urban schools; some notable urban educational policies and practices; and issues and trends in equity research. The following trends and issues in school programs and practices specifically related…

Recent findings on the academic achievement of Hispanic students are digested in this paper. Data are derived from the study, "Make Something Happen," which was conducted by the National Commission on Secondary Education for Hispanics, and presents comprehensive findings on Hispanic education drawn from a special analysis of the Hispanic…