This research aimed to examine students' perceptions of their life skills while attending project-based learning (PBL) schools. The study focused on three questions including: (1) What are students' perceptions of their development of life skills in project-based learning schools?; (2) In what ways, if any, do students perceive an increase in…

The Chicago Public Schools' (CPS) vision is that every student graduates from high school prepared for success in college, career, and life. To help the city reach that goal, the To&Through Project is providing data that track the progress of students in Chicago and identify where students are falling off the path to college degree attainment.…

The article discusses how instead of being parts of a concerted educational reform effort, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the development of charter schools are in fact contradictory initiatives. Basing itself on a theoretical framework that brings together issues inherent to outcome-based school reform and arguments supporting and criticizing…

Metaphors play a powerful role in arguments about education. It is common to say schools are broken, and that the school system is failing. Here I take the metaphor seriously and briefly review an historical episode where airplanes failed seemingly for no reason at the dawn of the jet age. The responses to these failures at first with public…

A middle school in Boston designs its curriculum and culture--from its nightly homework assignments to its Powerful Speaking Extravaganza--upon a foundation of strengthening students' motivation and ability to do the hard work necessary to accomplish their goals. Roxbury Prep's emphasis on perseverance finds support in a robust body of education…

In this paper we examine ways to conceptualize and address potential bias that can arise when the mechanism for missing outcome data is at least partially associated with treatment assignment, an issue we refer to as treatment confounded missingness (TCM). In discussing TCM, we bring together concepts from the methodological literature on missing…

National and international studies indicate that there persists a gap in student mathematics achievement between middle school students who attend high poverty schools and their more affluent peers. We must close this gap for the sake of those students whose math skills may shut them out of future opportunities in science fields and technology.…

This Chicana Critical Feminist "Testimonio" reveals a Mexican/Mexican-American Ethic of Care particular to the needs and strengths of "Mexicana/o" students and "Testimonios" of struggle, survival informing one Mexican/Mexican-American female educator of predominantly Mexican/Mexican-American students. This work,…

As Apple iPads are increasingly being adopted in schools for educational purposes, school administrators are seen as the key facilitators in the implementation of this new technology. This survey-based quantitative study investigated the impact of receiving iPad training on school administrators' attitudes towards iPad use in their professional…

A state legislator who played a key role in enacting the nation's first charter school law in Minnesota tells the story of shaping the ideas and the bill. She now looks for ways that charter schools can coexist with traditional public schools to deliver a better education for all children.

This qualitative study applied the theory that reading skills are predictive of high school graduation to examine the impact that reading proficiency has on student success in online credit recovery programs for credit deficient students, many of whom struggle with reading. Since reading proficiency impacts academic achievement in general, this…

This study investigated and analyzed the design and implementation of a new mathematics program into the fifth grade of an urban charter school. The newly designed curriculum included a balance of arithmetic fluency, and conceptual as well as procedural knowledge. The school in which the study was conducted served primarily educationally…

Public schools in the state of Texas are held accountable for performance and quality of education. Accountability is important to all schools, but it is critical to open-enrollment charter schools to remain in good standing. The current economic situation in Texas public education has brought attention as well as the need for alternative…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the job satisfaction of principals and assistant principals in traditional public high schools in Southern California's Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and those in charter high schools operating within the same boundaries. Methodology: The subjects in the present study were 15…

School choice policies, such as charter schools and vouchers, are in part designed to induce competition between schools. While several studies have examined the impact of private school competition on public schools, few studies have explored school leaders' perceptions of private school competitors. This study examines the extent to which public…