In 2002, Tennessee passed its first Public Charter School legislation. Four schools were successful in gaining approval to begin operating in the 2003-2004 academic year. The second cohort of three charter schools began operation during the 2004-2005 academic year, with the third cohort of five schools starting-up during the 2005-2006 academic…

This transcription of a lecture delivered by Rod Paige provides a discussion of the future plans for American education. After an introduction by Phillip N. Truluck, Executive Vice President of the Heritage Foundation, Paige uses the following topic headings to direct his talk: (1) The Education Revolution; (2) Improving Accountability and…

A critical question in school choice programs is whether relatively low-income urban parents have the ability to gather the information they need to make good choices for their children. Choice is expanding, particularly in American cities. Without good information, the benefits generated from expanding public school choice (via No Child Left…

In this article, the author provides a review and critique of key provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and documents some major effects of the law, which have not been positive for arts education and other subjects not formally tested under the law. Because NCLB is scheduled for reauthorization in 2007 or 2008, the author offers a…

Politicians, less interested in purity than in popularity, are generally wary of national standards. Yet a standards-based accountability system is the core component of NCLB, and in some ways it has made standards advocates victims of their own success. Now, many activists are agitating to cut back the role of Washington in education, and a…

The "District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act of 2003," passed by the Congress in January 2004, established the first federally funded, private school voucher program in the United States. The purpose of the new scholarship program was to provide low-income residents, particularly those whose children attend schools in need of…

The "District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act of 2003," passed by the Congress in January 2004, established the first federally funded, private school voucher program in the United States. The purpose of the new scholarship program was to provide low-income residents, particularly those whose children attend schools in need of…

Stigma and school voucher threats under a revised 2002 Florida accountability law have positive impacts on student performance. Stigma and public school choice threats under the U.S. federal accountability law, No Child Left Behind, do not have similar effects in Florida. Significant impacts of stigma, when combined with the voucher threat, are…

This digest examines prospects for educational voucher reforms across the U.S. education system. Currently, fewer than 20,000 U.S. students use publicly-funded school vouchers in Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Florida. As a proportion, this figure is tiny. Education voucher programs are neither prominent nor popular now. Whether they proliferate over…

This paper focuses on the first-year implementation of the choice provisions of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in Buffalo, New York, DeKalb County, Georgia, and Richmond, Virginia. After an analysis of the assumptions underlying school choice and the relevant research literature, the study addressed four research questions motivated by NCLBs…

This publication raises several points of discussion concerning the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and its future. Two years after its enactment, NCLB implementation proceeds by trial and error. Its ultimate success or failure remains unclear. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and teacher quality requirements are not always compatible with existing…

This booklet is a "decision tool" that can help parents navigate the process of choosing a school. It explains some of the public school choices now available in many communities and covers private school options that may be available as well. It outlines steps that parents can follow to help them make a thoughtful choice, and it includes…

Countering President Bush's America 2000 plan, the U.S. Senate passed the Neighborhood Schools Improvement Act establishing the 6 National Education Goals as law, creating a grant program enabling education agencies to make grants directly to individual public schools and allowing 50 districts greater flexibility in using federal resources while…

Describes the Child Care and Development Block Grants provisions of Congress's Omnibus Reconciliation Act and the new options it will provide for funding Catholic education. Highlights the act's establishment of the primacy of parental choice and its avoidance of privileged preference for public school prekindergarten programs. (DMM)

This article examines what some people see as flaws in the transfer policy provision of the No Child Left Behind law. Advocates of the policy are calling for providing schools with incentives to accept transfers and for giving parents more time, information, and options, among other changes. States need to hold districts' feet to the fire, those…