Sixty-five years after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision, the school integration movement is at an inflection point, defined in mathematics as the place on a curve where it begins to change shape, often from a low point to a high point. Similarly, the movement for school diversity is caught between a contemporary low
This week Brookings published an Education Plus Development blog written by David Baker and Bryan Mann about their study, “Cyber Charter Schools and Growing Resource Inequality among Public Districts: Geospatial Patterns and Consequences of a Statewide Choice Policy in Pennsylvania, 2002–2014”, which was published in the American Journal of Education in February 2019. The pandemic
NEW YORK, NY – With the recent confirmation of Betsy DeVos and the shift toward a federal education agenda that focuses on school choice, the organization Intelligence Squared hosted a debate on March 1 over the claim “Charter schools are overrated.” The debaters were two academics for the motion, Gary Miron from Western Michigan University and
The impact of public school choice through the development of charter schools, on the sorting of students along racial, class and ability lines has been a fundamental issue in school choice research and policy debates. Early concern was that the creation of charter schools would lead to “cream skimming” of whiter, wealthier and higher achieving
Which city has more charter school students than any other? New York? New Orleans? Washington, D.C.? These hotbeds of charter school activity do not hold a candle to Los Angeles, which has about 140,000 students in charter schools, more than double the enrollment of New York City. Also, charter schools in L.A. vary a great
Shopping at Wal-Mart provides the benefit of low prices, but often at the sacrifice of quality. For example, if one wants to purchase a premier suit or dress, he or she will likely receive higher quality by getting it personally tailored. The same rings true when the quality of fast food is compared to
Charter schools are public schools operated by nongovernmental organizations. Although the law varies by state, in Pennsylvania, charter school operators are granted financial, curricular, and operational autonomy. This opinion piece argues that the financial autonomy of charter schools should be severely curtailed, as there are multiple examples of charter schools abusing public money. When public
Charter schools provide an alternative approach to education in traditional public schools (TPS). Charter school popularity has grown dramatically in recent years, and many charters claim to substantially improve student achievement. However, I contend here that first, charter schools in general are not more effective than traditional public schools. Second, I argue that there may
