This collection of essays and articles on education reform highlights many of the issues of greatest interest to educators and the public. Articles are grouped into the following categories: (1) "The Front Lines" (9 selections); (2) "Charter Schools" (4 selections); (3) "School Choice" (4 selections); (4)…

This paper tries to set out a framework for thinking about whether the innovation known as "charter schools" is working. It is designed to help those who are designing evaluations and those who are thinking about accountability. The charter schools movement is a new state strategy for educational system change. Those who ask whether the…

DC has a larger percentage of students in charter schools than any state. To help oversee DC charter schools, Congress established two authorizers--the Board of Education (BOE), which has an Office of Charter Schools responsible for oversight, and the independent Public Charter School Board (PCSB). Congress required the GAO to conduct a study of…

An evaluation of the effectiveness of charter schools is offered in this report. The report attempts to answer three critical questions: (1) "How are charter schools assessing student achievement?"; (2) "What are charter schools doing to meet accountability requirements?"; and (3) "Are charter schools improving student achievement?" To answer…

A charter school is a public school that is operated under a detailed contract with a public agency and that may be exempt from many state and local regulations. This policy brief provides a brief overview of charter school characteristics and legislation, and discusses the concerns of policymakers in four states: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia,…

The basic charter school bargain--freedom in exchange for accountability--presents unique challenges to authorizers. Authorizers must walk a tightrope of sorts, respecting each charter school's independence and distinct mission, while holding every school accountable for educational results and public obligations. Overseeing charter schools is…

Monitoring and evaluating whether a charter school is in compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements and performing financially, organizationally, and academically requires the authorizer to examine a host of information about an individual school. Some of this information is reported by the school itself; vehicles such as self-reports,…

Surveyed teachers in traditional public and charter schools in Colorado and Michigan to examine differences in their perceptions of empowerment (specifically, decision making and autonomy). Results found no significant differences between the groups in perceptions of autonomy. Teachers in traditional schools believed they had more opportunities to…

Describes the advantages of charter schools, which are started by individuals or groups in the community and can set their own educational agendas and goals. More states are passing or expanding charter school laws every year. Benefits include autonomy, site-based management, increased parental involvement, and increased teacher control.…

Analyzed information from 14 charter-granting agencies (CGAs) to understand the challenges they have faced in their roles as charter school gatekeepers. CGAs use diverse strategies to meet their responsibilities, but in many cases the processes by which charter schools will be held accountable have not been well-developed. (SLD)

Even after more than a decade of experience, surprisingly little is understood about the entities responsible for authorizing and overseeing charter schools. In this article, the authors argue that the success of the charter school movement depends on the effectiveness of those authorizers. In order to find out how charter authorizers are doing…

The rapid growth of charter schools has encouraged innovation and led to new models of schooling. Foremost among these are cyber charter schools where students learn from computer-based lessons beyond the walls of the traditional schoolhouse setting. The authors present the case of cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania. They describe how cyber…

This article relies on a case study of a policy evaluation to illustrate how issues of social justice arise for action or inaction in a political environment. The article uses the case study to show that social justice issue formation is shaped by the personal beliefs of the actors, the prevailing political culture, the evolutionary path of the…

This special report is a supplement to a series of special education primers created to inform state officials, authorizers and charter school operators about special education in the charter sector. The primer series also provides tools to help these stakeholders build charter school capacity to provide special education and related services. In…

Stakeholder surveys conducted as part of the development of an accountability and assessment system for five charter schools in Miami-Dade County and Broward County, Florida, revealed high positive response regarding high expectations, school climate, basic skills instruction, and monitoring student progress. The lowest overall rating revealed…