Charter schools are public schools governed by an independent board of directors that come into existence through a contract with an authorized public chartering agency. This report, known as the Illinois Charter School Biennial Report, provides legislators, policymakers, educators, and the general public with information regarding the state of…

Charter schools are public schools governed by an independent board of directors that come into existence through a contract with an authorized public chartering agency. This report, known as the Illinois Charter School Biennial Report, provides legislators, policymakers, educators, and the general public with information regarding the state of…

This article takes advantage of a recently released national data set on school site expenditures to evaluate spending variations between traditional district operated schools and charter schools operated by for-profit versus nonprofit management firms. Prior research has revealed the revenue-enhancement, private fund-raising capacity of major…

Charter schools are public schools governed by an independent board of directors that come into existence through a contract with an authorized public chartering agency. This report, known as the Illinois Charter School Biennial Report, provides law and policymakers, educators, and the general public with information regarding the state of…

The "Illinois Charter School Biennial Report" for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years was originally published in January 2022 but was incomplete. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the normal administration and reporting of statewide student performance data during this time period. More specifically, ISBE received a statewide waiver of…

Charter schools are public schools governed by an independent board of directors that come into existence through a contract with an authorized public chartering agency. This report, known as the "Illinois Charter School Biennial Report," provides law and policymakers, educators, and the general public with information regarding the…

Charter schools are public schools governed by an independent board of directors that come into existence through a contract with an authorized public chartering agency. Known as the "Illinois Charter School Biennial Report," this report provides law and policymakers, educators, and the general public with information regarding the state…

Amid the growth of charter schools, autonomous schools, and private management organizations, an increasing number of urban districts are moving toward a portfolio management model (PMM). In a PMM, the district central office oversees schools that operate under a variety of governance models. The expansion of PMMs raises questions about local…

Teach For America (TFA) began in 1990 as an organization purportedly interested in working towards ameliorating a national teacher shortage by sending its corps members into urban and rural schools. In the decades that followed, especially during and immediately following a nationwide onslaught of teacher layoffs instigated by the 2008 Great…

This report was commissioned by Mid-America Regional Council and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to gain an understanding of the current state of Career and Technical Education (CTE) in nine counties of the Kansas City region: Missouri counties of Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte, and Ray; and Kansas counties of Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, and…

This report presents the findings from a rigorous national survey of charter school authorizers conducted in 2011 by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA). This is the fourth time NACSA has conducted this type of national survey. As in years past, the vast majority of authorizers (90 percent) are school districts and they…

As school closures are increasingly used as a remedy to budget woes and a solution to failing schools in many cities, debates are intensifying about their effect on student performance and well-being, on district finances, and on communities and the processes districts use to choose which schools will be shuttered. Student and parent groups in…

All public school children are entitled to quality public educational facilities--including those who attend public charter schools. Yet charter school leaders often spend substantial time and money searching for a facility. When they find one, they encounter significant costs associated with leasing or purchasing the building. They may have to…

The nation's largest school districts have increasingly turned to building closures to address budget deficits, demographic shifts, and the movement of students to charter schools. Over the past decade, 70 large or mid-sized cities closed schools--averaging 11 buildings per closure. This trend shows no signs of slowing. Washington, D.C. closed 23…

When 16 finalists come to Washington next week to make their final pitches in the $4 billion Race to the Top competition, most can expect to go home empty-handed. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in announcing the finalists last week, said that no more than $2 billion will be divided among "very few winners" when the awards are…