Recent studies of charter school effectiveness have questioned whether charter school networks can produce a lasting impact on students' long-term outcomes. Our study is the first to examine this issue at the network of Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) schools, which primarily serve disadvantaged students of color and constitute the nation's…

They show up shouting at school board meetings with endless complaints. The press interviews them as though they are "regular moms" looking out for their children, but they are not. They are a well-funded façade for the Koch, Walton, and DeVos families to disrupt and destroy public education. In our new report, author and academician…

As originally envisioned, charter schools were intended to be laboratories of innovation. Offered broad flexibility in exchange for performance-based accountability, they were well-positioned to test, validate, and adopt new practices in a public school environment. Thus far, however, charter schools have only partly delivered on this mission.…

In cities where public charter schools serve a large share of students, the costs of ongoing sector divisions and hostility across district and charter lines fall squarely on students and families. Exercising choice and accessing good schools in "high-choice cities" can be difficult for many families, especially some of the most…

Improving public education has long been a cornerstone of the Democratic platform. Because progressives understand that access to a quality education is the gateway to a better life, their decades-long struggle to promote equal rights and opportunity for all Americans has been deeply tied to their struggle to create an effective public school…

This mixed methods sequential explanatory designed study applied the economic theory of marketplace competition as a way to frame superintendents' perceptions of the characteristics of students and parents seeking charter schools. Although studies on charter schools are abundant, there is limited literature on this particular aspect of market…

Integrating our schools is a goal that many of us share. But some seem to have given up on the idea, as plans to boost racial diversity have come under attack, and as the fixation on test scores has narrowed some people's concept of a good education. There is, however, new hope: integration by socioeconomic status. It's a cost-effective, legally…

Using a theoretical lens of democratic education, this study critically analyzes pilot schools in the Boston Public School system, a school model gaining influence and imitation around the United States. Building on theories regarding the role of democracy in schools, and especially workplace democracy, this article juxtaposes these conceptions of…

This article reports how the 10 "pilot" schools conceived by the Boston district in 1994 are seeing more students through graduation than regular high schools in the area. Conceived a decade ago as the district's response to charter schools, pilot schools have won praise from educators, business leaders, and community groups for…

This article reports that special interest groups opposed to charter schools and high-stakes testing have hijacked Massachusetts's once-independent board of education and stand poised to water down the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests and the accountability system they support. President Barack Obama and Massachusetts…

All political scientists who study education policy start their analysis with a similar premise: "educational reform does not take place in political vacuum." Studies of the politics of school choice have focused primarily on state-level political dynamics. This line of research makes sense since the charter school market is initially…

Currently 15 percent of K-12 students attend public schools of choice, including charter, magnet, and controlled-choice schools. Support for choice is growing, but a recent report says 81 percent of adults surveyed know little about charters or vouchers. Profiles of successful choice schools are presented. (MLH)

This fourth edition of the "ES Review" brings together, in one setting, some of the best work from 2009-10. It features: (1) Teacher Quality (Teachers at Work: Improving Teacher Quality Through School Design (Elena Silva); Understanding Teachers Contracts (Andrew J. Rotherham); How Teachers Unions Lost the Media (Richard Whitmire and…

Teachers may be the most important element of an effective school, but does that mean that K-12 improvement must wait on the ability of schools or systems to recruit, nurture, and retain outstanding teachers? Such a strategy implies that widespread excellence hinges on the ability of publicly funded school systems to attract more than 3.3 million…

School choice is a highly controversial topic in Massachusetts. It is estimated that a minimum of 200,000 students are participating in some form of school choice in Massachusetts; when considering intra-district school choice, at least one in four Massachusetts students are in a setting over which their families exercised some form of choice.…