Collaborations popping up across the country between charter and traditional public schools show promise that charter schools could fulfill their original purpose of becoming research-and-development hothouses for public education, champions of charters say. But both supporters and skeptics of charter schools agree that so far the cooperative efforts are not widespread nor are most of them very deep. The U.S. Department of Education spent $6.7 million in fiscal 2009 on grants to states for charters to share what they've learned with other schools. It is now conducting a feasibility study on ways to support the spread of promising charter school practices. One idea being explored is to establish a prize for exemplary collaborations. Some skeptics of charter schools contend that some of the "innovations" they are credited with, such as extended time for learning or small school size, originated in traditional public schools. But others, such as the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools, believe charter schools do have some distinctive practices that should be shared with traditional public schools. The alliance hosted a conference in September that featured 26 "promising cooperative practices" between the two kinds of schools. One of the more substantive collaborations highlighted by the alliance is a partnership between the 3,400-student Central Falls district and the Learning Community charter K-7 school, both in Central Falls, Rhode Island. The long troubled district drew national attention last year for a protracted dispute between school system officials and the teachers' union. The charter school has a contract from the district to provide professional development in teaching reading for K-2 teachers.