Over the past decade, charter schools have been among the fastest-growing segments of the K-12 education sector in Chicago and across the country. This report addresses several key issues related to charter schools using student-level data provided by Chicago Public Schools. Students leaving traditional public schools for charter schools in…

This is the first empirical study to examine the effects of Ohio's EdChoice voucher program. Using publicly available data, it measures the program's effect on academic outcomes in public schools where students are eligible for vouchers. The EdChoice program offers vouchers to students who are assigned to chronically underperforming public…

As students have returned to Alice M. Harte Elementary School, they have found their old school far from the way they left it on the last school day before Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the city. The building may look much the same as it did on August 26, 2006 but half the faces here are new--from principals to teachers to students. The…

This "Report Card to the Public" is published in accordance with Alaska Statute 14.03.120 for the school year 2011-2012. Under state law, each school district is required to report information about its plans and performance to its community. This report includes a statewide summary of performance results. It reports the status of public…

Does poetry have a place in elementary education? Can reading and writing poetry offer elementary learners a way to imagine (and to image) the world through personal insight, to organize and interpret their experience, and to discover meaningful connections to other areas of knowledge? If so, how should these modes of interaction and…

Most public elementary and secondary schools have "instructional paraprofessionals" who are support staff responsible for assisting in the delivery of instruction. Instructional paraprofessionals account for about 12 percent of full-time or its equivalent staff in these schools while teachers make up about half of such staff (Hoffman and…

This study takes place at a Professional Development School (PDS). This PDS opened as a pre-K-5 public charter school, and as a PDS in collaboration with a local public university in Southern California. This qualitative study examined the challenges of teaching in a new PDS as expressed by the teachers' voices. Interview and survey data were…

This exploratory comparison of traditional and full-service schools' climates is an initial step in determining their differences. The authors established whether selected full-service and traditional elementary schools differ on five school climate factors indicating the student and teacher body composition, the students' socioeconomic status,…

Concerned that public schooling leads to mediocrity rather than meritocracy, many middle-class parents are seeking other options such as private schools, alternative public schools, and charter schools to develop their children's academic, creative, and athletic talents. Based on a mixed method investigation of school choice among parents (N =…

Two major pieces of legislation, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (2001) mandate that students with disabilities be placed in the Least Restrictive Environment and have access to the general education curriculum. To provide access to the general education curriculum, inclusion in general…

This study evaluated a community-based grief and trauma intervention for children conducted postdisaster. Fifty six children (7 to 12 years old) who reported moderate to severe levels of symptoms of posttraumatic stress were randomly assigned to group or individual treatment. Treatment consisted of a manualized 10-session grief- and trauma-focused…

Many Waldorf methods charter schools are opening up in California today. They are publicly funded schools bringing Waldorf methods into public education. In today's political climate all public schools must pass the state's bar of academic success measured by their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Because these scores are based largely on…

This report presents student-level achievement results for Tennessee charter schools that serve elementary grades. The schools had different start-up years as follows: (1) Circles of Success in Learning Academy and Smithson-Craighead Academy (2003-04); (2) Star Academy (2004-05); and (3) Promise Academy and Southern Avenue (2005-06). These three…

Charter school administrators weathered start-up woes, among them challenging students with unmet needs, verbal assaults, dwindling student enrollment, and a first-year budget deficit exceeding $200,000 to implement a reading improvement strategy that holds promise for helping at-risk students read better, a point particularly underscored…

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward achieving the…