The rapid expansion of school choice is restructuring public education in the United States. This study examines associations between charter and magnet school enrollment, White-Black and White-Hispanic segregation, and test score gaps at the district level from 2009 to 2015 in third to eighth grade using the Stanford Education Data Archive and…

Most articles about schools and what goes on inside of them address issues of currency--instructional core, evaluation, standards, teacher development, leadership, or opening a new school--but what about the closing of one? This, too, is part of the life span and reality of many schools. Are there best practices for closing schools? In this…

This issue brief presents results of a long-term tracking study that follows 1,177 students who applied to enter 1 of 13 oversubscribed KIPP [Knowledge Is Power Program] middle schools through a 5th- or 6th-grade admissions lottery in 2008 or 2009. Those students are now old enough to have attended college for at least two years. This study uses a…

This study explored the impact of computer-assisted interventions on academic growth in reading comprehension. Participants in this study were middle school students in a West Tennessee charter school system. The investigation aimed to determine if students, both general and exceptional learners, would have a difference in academic growth scores…

There is ample evidence that youth who have supportive relationships with others experience more positive outcomes (Kesselring et al., 2016 ). Positive Youth Development (PYD) emphasizes the promotion of better outcomes for youth by building on their strengths and providing supports and opportunities to foster the achievement of goals and…

In this report, the authors present the results of a long-term tracking study that follows 1,177 students who applied to enter 1 of 13 oversubscribed Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) middle schools through a 5th or 6th grade admissions lottery in 2008 or 2009. Those students are now old enough to have attended college for at least two years. This…

Study after study has found that new teachers tend to be less effective than educators with more experience. But despite having more junior staff, charter networks (referred to as CMOs) often outperform their district peers. So what's their secret? To find out, this study explores how teacher effectiveness varies and evolves across traditional and…

This study is about a seventh-grade classroom in a predominantly White region in the rural northwestern United States where a White teacher led an interdisciplinary unit on African American narratives of enslavement and freedom fighting. Through the lenses of racial literacy, critical Whiteness studies, and discourse studies, authors use data from…

Analysis of multiple forms of data from a high-need K--8 charter school led to the hypothesis that increasing disciplinary disruptions and poor student academic achievement were the results of endemic student trauma. The principal, the lead school counselor, and an advisory council created a plan to explore and address behavioral and…

In the past, sociologists have provided keen insights into the work of teaching, but classic studies by scholars like Dan Lortie and Willard Waller are now decades old. With the current emphasis on teacher evaluation and accountability, the field is ripe for new sociological studies of teaching. How do we understand the work of teaching in this…

St. HOPE (Helping Others Pursue Excellence) has embraced the character education movement and worked tirelessly to become a National School of Character. There is a commitment to relevant, student-driven service learning that develops every facet of their scholars' burgeoning identities, experiences that truly cultivate the whole child. St. HOPE…

This mixed methods study was conducted within a highly diverse K-12 public charter school setting to address a need for targeted professional development related to the development of intercultural competence for teachers in public schools, given the growing gap observed between the cultural backgrounds of K-12 public school teachers and their…

Background: Uncertainty is a crucial element of scientific knowledge growth. Students should have some understanding of how science knowledge is developed and why scientific conclusions are considered more or less certain than others. A component of the nature of science, it is considered an important aspect of science education and allows…

Charter schools have become a widely used alternative to traditional public schools, both nationally and in the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast Region. They play an increasingly important role in state reform efforts. South Carolina stakeholders--including the South Carolina Department of Education, the Public Charter School…

Meaningful teacher-student relationships are linked to a range of positive student outcomes. However, there is limited research on how teacher education programs attempt to prepare teachers to form relationships with students. This article employs comparative case methodology to explore how two different teacher residency programs--No Excuses…