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…

This study examines the cost of transportation services for Pennsylvania's school districts, focusing especially on the impact on costs of contracting out. Using data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education from 1986 to 2008, the study statistically analyzes total costs, the costs to the state, and the costs to local school districts. On…

This article focuses on the increased power of venture philanthropy to shape education in urban communities of color in the USA. The author situates venture philanthropy's expanded influence in urban school districts in the nexus of urban disinvestment, neoliberal governance, wealth concentration, and economic crisis. The author argues that…

Recent years have seen a growing push toward Portfolio Management Models that incorporate a variety of "providers" operating public schools. One rationale for this is that such organizations can offer distinct and innovative educational practices. This article describes the Diverse Provider Model implemented in Philadelphia from…

"Impact of For-Profit and Nonprofit Management on Student Achievement: The Philadelphia Intervention, 2002-2008" examined whether shifting from traditional district management to management by a for-profit or nonprofit organization improves student achievement. The study analyzed data on six cohorts of elementary and middle school…

Background/Context: Market models of school reform are having a major impact on school districts across the country. While scholars have examined many aspects of this process, we know far less about the general effects of marketization on public participation in education and local education politics. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of…

In "The Transformation of Great American School Districts", William Lowe Boyd, Charles Taylor Kerchner, and Mark Blyth argue that urban education reform can best be understood as a long process of institutional change, rather than as a series of failed projects. They examine the core assumptions that underlay the Progressive Era model of…

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) asks that states "restructure" schools that fail for six years running to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward full proficiency on the part of all students by the year 2014. Although restructuring efforts by most states have been modest, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 2002, directed the School District…

In this brief, the authors examine the creation, evolution, and expansion of Philadelphia's diverse provider model through the lens of this theory of change; they show that the beliefs and assumptions underlying the diverse provider model have been amended over time; and they illustrate how district and provider leaders have reshaped the model in…

Since the state takeover, the Philadelphia school district has created a new governance model, in which for-profits, non-profits, and universities receive contracts to manage schools. Further, these and other organizations also receive contracts to provide a range of additional services. The shift to a public/private institutional structure,…

This monograph uses longitudinal, student-level achievement data provided by the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) to examine differential achievement effects in the 45 privately operated schools, in the 21 schools that were restructured and given additional resources in 2002, and in the 16 schools (known as the "sweet 16") that…

Case study of a poor, rural Pennsylvania school district's experience with the Reading First initiative illustrates how the No Child Left Behind Act confines districts to a few federally prescribed, "scientifically proven" curricula that ignore local conditions. Sanctioned schools are negatively labeled but receive inadequate funding,…