State-level momentum in support of vouchers and tax credits that help students go to private schools highlights what has been a largely theoretical issue: private school capacity to support voucher-financed enrollment. Academics say the national supply of seats in secular and religious private schools is sufficient to meet short-term demand from…

The pace at which the highest-performing charter-management organizations (CMOs) are "scaling up" is being determined largely by how rapidly they can develop and hire strong leaders and acquire physical space, and by the level of support they receive for growth from city or state policies, say leaders from some charter organizations…

At a time when many states are adopting controversial measures to launch or expand private school vouchers, Republicans in Michigan are taking a different direction, moving ahead with a plan that would greatly expand the menu of public school choices for students and parents. GOP lawmakers, who control both state legislative chambers, have…

Louisiana is gearing up to open a new front in its push to expand educational choice, essentially creating a marketplace that lets students shop around for publicly funded courses--both online and face-to-face--beyond their schoolhouse doors. More than 30 providers already have stepped forward seeking state approval to take part in the Course…

As school closures are increasingly used as a remedy to budget woes and a solution to failing schools in many cities, debates are intensifying about their effect on student performance and well-being, on district finances, and on communities and the processes districts use to choose which schools will be shuttered. Student and parent groups in…

A tight race for governor, the heavy burden of rebuilding a school funding system recently declared unconstitutional, and a fourth ballot measure in two decades on charter schools has placed Washington state on an intense--and unpredictable--road for education this year. Washington is one of nine states that do not allow charter schools, and the…

One of the most vexing questions about charter schools--when low-performing ones should be shut down--is receiving new attention, amid concerns that lax and inconsistent standards for closing them will undermine the public's confidence in the sector. Over the past few years, a growing number of researchers, policymakers, and charter school backers…

Jeb Bush left the Florida governor's office in 2007 with a legacy of having brought sweeping changes to his state's education system, through hard-edged policies that gave parents and students more choices and demanded more of schools. Today, that legacy seems poised to grow--and well beyond Florida. In state capitals across the country, numerous…

Five years after the hurricane devastated the region, New Orleans schools emerge changed--and challenged. New Orleans finds itself with a transformed educational system and one that continues to evolve. This new reality comes as the city's public school population stood at about 38,000 as of February, well below the estimated 65,000 before the…

A prominent and sustained White House push for renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is viewed as crucial to prospects for the 9-year-old law's reauthorization by a now-divided Congress. The law's current version, the No Child Left Behind Act, was President George W. Bush's signature domestic achievement when it was passed…

Leaders of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools are optimistic that they can reach a long-term agreement with the Baltimore (Maryland) Teachers Union in a nationally watched dispute over teacher pay for an extended school day, reducing the likelihood that the charter network will carry out its threat to close its two schools in…

Well in advance of its official release, the education film "Waiting For Superman" has attracted a level of attention that could make it one of the year's most-watched documentaries--and one of the most controversial among educators, some of whom question its depictions of the American school system and how to improve it. Made by…

The author reports on the "restart" option in the federal school turnaround program which offer new opportunities for charter school operators. Some of the nation's largest and best-known charter-management organizations have not jumped at the opportunity to "restart" schools with federal economic-stimulus money, but a wide range of smaller…

When 16 finalists come to Washington next week to make their final pitches in the $4 billion Race to the Top competition, most can expect to go home empty-handed. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in announcing the finalists last week, said that no more than $2 billion will be divided among "very few winners" when the awards are…

Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter middle schools enroll a significantly higher proportion of African-American students than the local school districts they draw from, but 40 percent of the black males they enroll leave between grades 6 and 8, says a new nationwide study by researchers at Western Michigan University. With 99 charter schools…