Students in a combined grade 3-4 in a charter school in Asheville, North Carolina, chose the topics and ways to demonstrate their learning to fulfill history curriculum requirements. Their choices of local historical architecture and traditional quilt-making spiraled out to include photography, historical fiction, and quilted pillows, which were…

Society must reconceptualize the public school as any nonprofit entity willing to be accountable for educating our children. The new system should emphasize common standards and school choice. Charter experiments in Moses Lake, Washington; Milwaukee; and Harlem demonstrate the power of choice and transformational leadership. (Contains 11…

Per-pupil property valuation extremes among Colorado school districts are as varied as the landscape. A foundation plan levels funding disparities for school operations, but financing of major capital outlay projects still depends on local property taxation. Funds are needed to finance classroom technologies and Internet connections. (MLH)

Describes how two rural Colorado communities, threatened by the loss of their elementary schools, established a charter school based in two existing facilities. Discusses the benefits of local autonomy, the value of networking with other rural charter schools, the role of the community in school innovations, and emphases on staff development and…

There are English, math, science, and other core subjects, and there are young minds. Schools of education are supposed to prepare and furnish the guides who bring the former into the latter, but the bankrupt ideology they impart to educators obstructs that transfer. Sandra Stotsky says that if we give the job of training teachers to the…

There is a paucity of research about how the policies enacted by states either foster or hinder charter schools' service to disadvantaged students or how the characteristics of charter schools themselves affect this outcome. By combining data from the US Department of Education's Schools and Staffing Survey with data on the characteristics of…

This article profiles Toni Billingsley, an African-American teacher teaching Spanish classes at the Academy of Communications and Technology Charter School in the West Garfield Park section of Chicago. This article also describes her unique teaching methods. Billingsley uses clever puns, outright slapstick, sly references to black popular culture…

The "Quarterly" offers a comprehensive overview of work done across all of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Each issue includes short publications and summaries covering all NCES publications and data products released in a given time period as well as notices about training and funding opportunities. In addition,…

This statistically representative survey of 1,203 likely Virginia voters illustrates public opinion on a wide range of K-12 education issues. The underlying purpose of the Friedman Foundation's state surveys is to measure voter knowledge and attitudes toward public institutions and policies, innovative ideas, and the state's K-12 education system.…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

This report presents information about public elementary and secondary education for the 2003-04 school year. The data were provided by state education agencies through the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system, a universe data collection that includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Defense…

As state coffers continue to shrink this year, there is less money for education, and much of what is available is earmarked for mandates. Yet the money is out there if one knows how to find, create, or borrow it; the trick is to be creative. In this article, the author offers a dozen daring ideas for generating extra cash. The highest-profile…

Charter schools incorporate the focus of magnet schools but often go beyond their academic specialization to more social goals. They can operate at both elementary and secondary levels, although they are always quite small. The greatest difference, however, between charter schools and other public schools is their status as a bridge between public…

Pennsylvania's proposed Charter Schools Act, House Bill (H.B.) 1834, allows charter schools to be approved by local school boards or school district voters. This report describes the mission, functions, capabilities, and plans of a potential nonprofit Technical Assistance Activity (TAA) for charter-school applicants under H.B. 1834. The report…

This document provides a brief history of urban school governance and summarizes some of the unique governance structures that have emerged in six American cities and one Canadian province over recent years. By 1920, ward-based systems in most urban areas had given way to systems with a high degree of centralization. These systems were more…