Better Schools Through Better Politics: The Human Side of Portfolio School District Reform
This working paper series examines the politics of portfolio school district reform, with a primary focus on the issues surrounding high school closures.
Learning from Charter School Management Organizations: Strategies for Student Behavior and Teacher Coaching
This is the final report from The National Study of CMO Effectiveness, a four-year study designed to assess the impact of CMOs on student achievement and identify CMO structures and practices that are most effective in raising achievement.
Tinkering Toward Transformation: A Look at Federal School Improvement Grant Implementation
In 2009, the federal government committed over $3 billion to help states and districts turn around their worst-performing schools. This report looks at the results of a field study of the first-year implementation of those grants in Washington State, where researchers found that districts and schools are using the grants for only marginal change.
The Portfolio Mindset: Innovation Starts from the Ground Up
In January 2012, over 100 district and charter leaders gathered in New Orleans for the sixth Portfolio School District Network meeting. John White, new state superintendent of Louisiana, launched the meeting with the idea of a “portfolio mindset,” one that believes that innovation comes from the ground up. This brief presents the themes that emerged from the two-day meeting, as well as next steps for the network.
Ch. 7 – Creating Savvy Choosers: Informing Families About School Choices (HFR ’11)
In this chapter, University of Colorado Denver’s Paul Teske gives an overview of the challenges of helping parents navigate school choice systems.
Ch. 6 – A New Path to Rapid Reform for Districts and States (HFR ’11)
Districts interested in collaborating with charter schools usually are most interested in using charter schools as an avenue to create effective new schools quickly.
Ch. 5 – For Charter Schools and School Districts, Empty Space Equals Opportunity (HFR ’11)
In this chapter Parker Baxter argues that by reimagining the distribution of funding, facilities, and other district assets without regard to whether a school is a district school or a charter school, districts can strike a unique and powerful bargain with charter schools: shared resources and shared responsibility.
Ch. 4 – Making Choice Work for Students With Special Needs (HFR ’11)
In this chapter Robin Lake and Betheny Gross argue that charter schools have a mixed track record on ensuring that students with special needs have effective options, but the reasons are complex, and the solutions are not obvious.
Ch. 3 – Equal Access: Creating Fair and Transparent Assignment Systems (HFR ’11)
In this chapter, Tom DeWire of Baltimore Public schools draws on the experience of choice enrollment and assignment plans in Baltimore, New York, and Boston to illustrate the important questions that districts need to ask when designing such systems.
Ch. 2 – Mastering Change: When Charter Schools and District Schools Embrace Strategic Partnership (HFR ’11)
This chapter examines factors that are driving districts to collaborate with charters, what those collaborations look like, and the politics both sides must deal with.
