Betsy DeVos, the new U.S. Secretary of Education, has a reform agenda to advance school choice. Her track record includes enabling charter school growth in Michigan at taxpayers' expense with little oversight or accountability. Although an effective advocate, DeVos represents a broader policy movement to privatize American education, much of it…

Our 32nd annual report analyzing data from southeast Wisconsin's public school districts finds progress on some college readiness indicators and largely positive showings on district report cards. Those results are offset, however, by discouraging results on standardized tests and continued substantial achievement gaps between students of…

In comparing one public school to another, discussions frequently include talk concerning the socio economics of a school or district, which then leads to talk about the advantages that one socioeconomic setting has over another. Educators tend to agree that low academic achievement frequently associated with a low socioeconomic status is a…

The rationale for taking bold action on the nation's persistently failing schools can be summed up in one dramatic and disturbing statistic: half of the young Americans who drop out of high school attend just 12 percent of the nation's schools. Ending the cycle of failure at schools is a daunting challenge and a surprisingly controversial one.…

Our corporate society has produced an educational marketplace that forces public schools to compete merely to survive. Brevard County Schools (Florida) have allowed their constituents freedom of choice for over 20 years. The payoff: only 4.7 percent of Brevard County students attend private schools, compared with a national figure of 10.5 percent.…

States that central to any efforts to improve urban schools is the relationship between the school managers and the teachers' union. Recommendations include creating learner-centered schools; focusing on improving the knowledge and skills of teachers; negotiating "Living Contracts"; and expanding school choice by making public schools…

A Florida county, under a federal court order to desegregate its schools, adopted a plan of controlled school choice approved by the federal court. The county was divided into three zones that roughly reflected the school system's racial composition. A computerized lottery, with provisions for keeping siblings together and attractive programs for…

This guide, first in a series of four volumes, is designed to give information to parents and other decision makers on costs and benefits of different kinds of choices of schools that children might attend. Four sections present digests of information based on research and evaluation studies. Section 1 introduces the format and purpose of the…

The school choice provision of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) of 2001 applies to schools that receive Title I funds and that have not met state performance goals for 2 consecutive years, including goals set before the enactment of NCLBA. Students in such schools must be offered the choice to transfer to another school in the district. The…

In December 2002, the Department of Education launched the Office of Innovation and Improvement. That office was charged with promoting promising innovations in education and expanding parental options and information. Even in those early days of the "No Child Left Behind Act" the Department knew that the law had the potential to set in…

The one-size-fits-all public schools inherited from the nineteenth century can be transformed if parents have the right to choose schools their children will attend. Schools of choice will improve both the attitudes and performance of students. Teachers and administrators will be more professional, and school boards can meet their responsibilities…

This report from the Doing School Choice Right initiative reveals how two markedly different school districts, Milwaukee and Dayton, are confronting the challenges of competition. It explores how the two districts are affected by and respond to the pressures of school choice. Because it relies heavily on district's and school leaders' accounts of…

After years of reform and accompanying frustration, public schools of choice have become one of today's most popular school reform strategies. More than 20 states have either passed choice legislation or are considering such action. At the present, plans based on parental influence represent the majority of district choice plans, including magnet…

This guide, second in a series of four volumes, offers a method of surveying parents' attitudes about choosing schools for their children and provides a survey instrument used over a period of 5 years in four Massachusetts urban school districts. Section 1 introduces the basic research questions pursued in the survey. Section 2, "The Parent…

This volume of profiles, third in a series of guides on parent choice and schooling, provides short descriptions about the range of exemplary parent information strategies from 21 school districts in 11 states across the nation. The profiles were chosen to be representative of efforts public school districts make to inform parents about available…