A Toolkit of Emerging Best Practices and Opportunities for Charter Support Organizations Approximately 6.4 million students--roughly 13 percent of the student population between ages 6-21--receive special education and related services in public schools every year. While students identified as eligible for special education require supports and…

Charter and cyber charter schools were legislatively permitted to operate as publicly funded educational institutions in Pennsylvania with the passage of Act 22 of 1997. Examining the tuition payments from traditional school districts funding charter schools and resulting economic, operational, and programmatic impacts on traditional K-12…

Contemporary education reform movements in the United States have emphasized accountability for student performance. Policy actors serving within the executive branch have arguably gained power in part to provide this accountability function. The present study, in which Ohio and Pennsylvania serve as state case contexts, examines the changing…

Providing high-quality and equitable learning opportunities should be a primary goal of all schools and school systems. Charter schools comprise the most steadily growing sector of Pennsylvania's public education system, now home to over 160 brick-and-mortar charter schools. As with all public schools--given the right conditions--the charter…

Between 2011 and 2015, K-12 education experienced an infusion of funds by the U.S. Department of Education going directly to school districts that implemented reforms in key areas to address truancy, dropout and achievement in our nation's most severely underperforming schools. There is limited research studying truancy reduction, relationship…

As Research for Action (RFA) found in 2018 (see ED593694), Pennsylvania schools have a history of under-identifying students experiencing homelessness, denying likely hundreds of students the educational rights afforded by federal law each year. Now the state, along with the whole nation, is facing multiple crises as a result of the COVID-19…

The Inspector General Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-452), as amended, requires that the Inspector General report semiannually to the Congress on the activities of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) during the 6-month periods ending March 31 and September 30. This Semiannual Report presents the activities and accomplishments of the U.S. Department…

In "Redefining the School District in America," Nelson Smith reexamines existing recovery school districts (RSDs)--entities in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Michigan charged with running and turning around their state's worst schools--and assembles the most comprehensive catalog of similar initiatives underway and under consideration…

In 2007, the U.S. Department of Education commissioned WestEd to develop a guide on using quality authorizing to promote high-quality charter schools. At the time, notions about how authorizers could contribute to the existence of such schools were in their infancy, and the publication, which profiles the oversight practices of eight selected…

Charter school authorization, accountability, and funding will be key features of education policy debates in Pennsylvania over the next several months. One proposed policy, Senate Bill 1085, would amend significant aspects of the state's charter school law, including the system for charter school approval, specific criteria for evaluating…

In 2012, the School District of Philadelphia closed six schools. In 2013, it closed 24. The closure of 30 schools has occurred amid a financial crisis, headlined by the district's $1.35 billion deficit. School closures are one piece of the district's plan to cut expenditures and close its budget gap. The closures are also intended to make…

School districts held an exclusive franchise on public education services until 1991, when Minnesota passed the first law permitting public charter schools. Charter schools are publicly funded, authorized by various agencies designated in public law, but independently managed. They operate outside district control, and most can draw students from…

This article presents the author's views about the school district deconstruction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He discusses his 30-year experience as a principal and central office administrator with the School District of Philadelphia and his involvement in the efforts to lead urban school reform in the country. He also describes the reform…

As the face of education in Philadelphia's public schools changes in response to budget constraints and politics, current "Teach For America" (TFA) corps members' roles have also changed. These changes have resulted in the majority of second-year TFA corps members being relocated from school district to charter-managed schools, many of…

Amid the growth of charter schools, autonomous schools, and private management organizations, an increasing number of urban districts are moving toward a portfolio management model (PMM). In a PMM, the district central office oversees schools that operate under a variety of governance models. The expansion of PMMs raises questions about local…