How Governance Reforms Can Outlast the Reformers
Fourth in a CRPE Blog Series on Education Governance as a Civic Enterprise Those who have done well under traditional school governance systems are frightened by the ideas of families choosing their schools, schools controlling their own budgets and staffing, and meaningful accountability structures encompassing all schools. When people see disadvantaged kids getting access to […]
Getting Beyond the Book Wars
Third in a CRPE Blog Series on Education Governance as a Civic Enterprise I’m often asked how CRPE’s portfolio model differs from the vision put forth in my friend Andy Smarick’s book, The Urban School System of the Future. My first response is, “Not all that much.” Andy’s proposed solution to urban school system dysfunction […]
Spreading the Gospel—and the Freedoms
Second in a CRPE Blog Series on Education Governance as a Civic Enterprise Educators often let me know they are passionately opposed to charter schools. “If freedom is so good for schools,” they ask, “then why not give it to all of them, not just charter schools?” I used to say that you have to […]
How Will We Oversee the School Systems of the Future?
First in a CRPE Blog Series on Education Governance as a Civic Enterprise Those of you who follow CRPE’s work know that we have long been a leading source of ideas about new approaches to public oversight of schools. One of our core beliefs regarding governance is that public schools can, and should, be given […]
CRPE Study Explores Special Education and Charter Schools
The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has received a $450,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation to study charter schools and special education. Nationwide, the question of lower enrollment of special education students in charter schools continues to create lively speculation. Charter school critics argue that charter schools discourage families of students with special […]
To Keep Improving Options for Students, Sustain Alonso’s Strategy
By Paul Hill and Sarah Yatsko Baltimore is right to applaud City Schools CEO Andrés Alonso and to be sorry to see him go. Like other cities that lose an effective school district leader, the city is also at risk of losing what he has done. Everything depends on understanding how he has approached his […]
New CRPE Study of Washington State Principals
The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has received a $435,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study principals in Washington State and how they are hired and supported by the state’s school districts. With new statewide teacher and principal evaluation provisions and an upcoming transition to Common Core State Standards, Washington […]
New CRPE Study Examines Effects of Unified Enrollment Systems
The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has received a $500,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation for a two-year study on the effect of unified enrollment systems on families and schools. Led by Research Director Dr. Betheny Gross, CRPE will analyze the design and implementation of unified enrollment systems in Denver Public Schools and […]
To Survive, Charters Cannot Ignore the Bottom Line
by Marguerite Roza By now, most people in the education world have come to terms with the notion that resources are likely to be highly constrained in the years ahead. Charters, too, have faced the unsavory consequences of tight budgets as they have seen their state funds squeezed or delayed. Most charters have focused their […]
Charters Branch Out: Do Moves Into Affluent Areas Signal an Important Trend?
by Jeffrey Henig Twenty years ago, in the early days of the charter school movement, the hot controversy was “creaming.” Critics worried that charters would target more advantaged suburban populations, skimming off the students most likely to succeed and leaving traditional public schools in low-income and minority neighborhoods even more isolated, underfunded, and burdened with […]