Charter schools represent an increasingly important form of school choice in the United States. Charter schools are public schools, with a difference. Compared to traditional public schools, they are exempted from some of the state laws and regulations that govern traditional public schools. In this way, parents come to have a greater number of…

This paper revisits existing experimental work on Teach For America (TFA) and extends it by examining treatment effects across the distribution of student achievement. TFA is a rapidly expanding teacher preparation program that currently serves over half a million students in low-income districts across the country. Previous research results did…

This article reports on a new study released by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) of states with five years of comparable test data which finds that student achievement in reading and math rose between 2005 and 2009 on state tests as well as on National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). The report also finds overlapping achievement gains…

Project CRISS[R] (CReating Independence through Student-owned Strategies) is a professional development program for teachers that aims to improve reading, writing, and learning for 3rd- through 12th-grade students. The implementation of Project CRISS[R] does not require a change in the curriculum or materials being used in the classroom, but…

The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) is a rapidly expanding network of public charter schools whose mission is to improve the education of low-income children. As of the 2012-2013 school year, 125 KIPP schools are in operation in 20 different states and the District of Columbia (DC). Ultimately, KIPP's goal is to prepare students to enroll and…

Focusing on student proficiency in reading and math from 2003-04 to 2006-07, this report compares gaps in performance on state achievement tests between grade 8 American Indian and Alaska Native students and all other grade 8 students in 26 states serving large populations of American Indian and Alaska Native students. In response to a request by…

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act provides support "to ensure that teachers have the necessary subject matter knowledge and teaching skills in the academic subjects that the teachers teach." Title II of the act allows funds to be used for "carrying out programs that establish, expand, or improve alternative routes for state…

Since the 2003-04 school year, Save the Children, U.S. Programs, has supported programming designed to improve reading skills among struggling students in rural areas. The literacy program includes both afterschool and in-school interventions with small groups of children. These are implemented by well-trained paraprofessionals and are designed to…

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), standardized test scores are the indicator used to hold schools and school districts accountable for student achievement. Each state is responsible for constructing an accountability system, attaching consequences--or stakes--for student performance. The theory of action implied by this…

On July 28, 2006, a panel of experts briefed members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the putative benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and secondary education. Four experts presented written statements to the Commissioners that assessed the social science literature on this issue. They also addressed whether or not…