For-profit charter-school managers may be removing the "public" from public education. A study of 11 Michigan charter schools showed that cost-cutting strategies are adversely affecting student transportation, special education, and the socioeconomic mix of students. Corporations' superimposed bureaucracies have eradicated educators'…

At a new charter school serving predominantly defiant underachievers and special-needs students, a psychology teacher was challenged to implement founders' brain-based principles. She succeeded by establishing a climate of relaxed alertness, immersing students in meaningful experiences, and guiding them in processing their experiences. (MLH)

In a question-and-answer session, David C. Berliner discusses wide range of topics related to current state of the teaching profession, including qualities of the expert teacher, attracting higher quality teachers, teacher career-stage programs, merit pay, and promising reforms for teacher education in last decade. (PKP)

When Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School in Boston realized that their students' 2002-2003 math scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System fell below the target set by Massachusetts for adequate yearly progress, they saw not one problem (poor math achievement), but two. Because it was the fifth year the school had not hit AYP…

Will greater school choice result in more responsive, higher quality schools and happier parents? Or will proliferating options further sort students and families by race, social class, and special interest? Increasingly, education is viewed as a private good. If parents become autonomous, self-interested consumers, erosion of common purposes and…

Society must reconceptualize the public school as any nonprofit entity willing to be accountable for educating our children. The new system should emphasize common standards and school choice. Charter experiments in Moses Lake, Washington; Milwaukee; and Harlem demonstrate the power of choice and transformational leadership. (Contains 11…

Howard Gardner reflects on how students who learn in different ways might grapple with deep epistemological questions. Gardner advocates teaching disciplines that present our culture's image of what is true, beautiful, and ethical. His understanding pathway should appeal to children possessing a strong existential intelligence. (MLH)