In 2020, Rick Hess and Pedro Noguera engaged in a long-running correspondence that tackled many of the biggest questions in education -- including topics like school choice, equity and diversity, testing, privatization, the achievement gap, social and emotional learning, and civics. They sought to unpack their disagreements, better understand one…

Historically, debates about educational choice have wrestled with big, unresolved tensions that lie at the heart of American life, having to do with individual rights, community obligations, public and private interests, religious freedoms, and more. But in recent years, school reformers have tended to talk about choice as though it referred only…

Recent headlines describing the national drop in public school enrollment suggest that this is a shocking crisis brought on or worsened by the pandemic. However, Abbie Cohen argues that the current enrollment decline should not be a surprise. The underlying causes have festered for decades. Among these causes is the tension between the different…

The Civil Rights Project was hired to identify barriers to equitable access in Buffalo (New York) Public Schools' criteria schools and propose solutions, which, if accepted by both parties, could resolve the civil rights violations and create more equitable access to those schools. The researchers found that students of color, low-income students,…

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in the case of "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka," which struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine of the 1896 "Plessy v. Ferguson" decision. The Court claimed, "To separate them [African American children] from others of similar age…

In this interview, Jonathan Kozol, author of "Savage Inequalities," castigates proponents of school choice, shares his frustrations over some current educational trends, deplores President Bush's stinginess regarding educational funding, and speaks eloquently about our neglect of the poor. (MLH)

The May 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision came in the midst of a national preoccupation with taking care of very young baby boomers. There was a focus on the cheapest way to staff classrooms; build schools; get textbooks and other resources to students and teachers. The desegregation of schools proceeded with about the same level of…

Horace Mann's goal of creating a common school that brings our society's children together in mutual respect and common learning need not be frustrated by residential segregation and geographical separation of the haves and have-nots. Massachusetts' new common school vision boasts a Metro Program for minority students, 80 magnet schools, and…

Discusses findings of two studies conducted in the Poudre District in Fort Collins, Colorado, which had experienced rapid implementations of in-district choice, a school-within-a-school, several public alternative schools, and a charter school. Debate rages over relationships between public schools and their communities, school choice and academic…

The twenty-second annual Gallup Poll surveyed parents and community members concerning national educational goals, school choice, parental control of public schools, examinations for promotion, grade retention and dropout rates, access to personal information about students, equal educational opportunity, desirability of teaching as a career,…

In California, there is growing rift between haves and have-nots that threatens society's long-term safety and security. Efforts are under way (via proposed school choice/voucher program) to formalize this division by creating a separate school system for each ethnic group. The national push toward public school choice is relatively benign, but…

In this era of educational choice, school accountability, research-based practices, and commercial competition--illustrated by but not exclusive to No Child Left Behind--some schools, public and private, make claims that resemble false advertising and that some parents rely on, to their disappointment and even detriment. Moreover, the laudable…

Based on findings of school-choice efforts in the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado, concludes that this reform experiment should be abandoned, because of controversy involving competition for district resources, differential perceptions of parent satisfaction, and inequitable opportunities for parents to exercise school-choice options.…

Argues that the Reagan administration is dismantling the educational efforts of the past 50 years, which could result in chaos. Suggests that state departments are incapable of exercising leadership in the absence of a federal role. Predicts the abandonment of educational research and special concerns and the demise of equality. (Author/WD)

Support for Minnesota's cross-district public school choice laws is strong. In 1992, 76% of Minnesotans favored choice as 1 part of the comprehensive reforms needed. This article debunks seven widely circulated myths about the state's choice plans, particularly regarding program effects, benefits for disadvantaged students, parental selection…