School Funding’s Tragic Flaw
This paper finds that federal, state, and local policies designed to distribute education funds systematically provide more money to higher-income students and wealthier schools.
Brief: Allocation Anatomy: District Resource Distribution Practices & Reform Strategies
A companion piece to Allocation Anatomy: How District Policies That Deploy Resources Can Support (or Undermine) District Reform Strategies, this research brief summarizes the report’s key findings and recommendations.
Allocation Anatomy: How District Policies That Deploy Resources Can Support (or Undermine) District Reform Strategies
This paper explores the nature of micro-budgeting decisions and shows how they support or hamper district reform strategies. It also provides a framework to help district leaders recognize different kinds of allocations.
Buying Smart in Thin Markets: District Tactics to Improve the Quality and Quantity of Autonomous Schools
This paper identifies tactics districts can use to influence the factors that shape the supply and quality of providers of autonomous schools in thin markets.
Working With Private Partners to Manage the Market: Collaborative Approaches to Charter School Oversight
This paper finds that informal partnerships between authorizers and private organizations have the potential to improve the quality and quantity of new schools.
In the Eye of the Beholder: Charter Schools and Innovation
This paper summarizes the research evidence on charter school innovation to date and suggests ways to more productively pursue future research and development in the charter sector.
Salvaging Assets: Considering Alternatives to School Closure
What are the options for charter school authorizers or entities with similar responsibilities who want to preserve assets when closing low-performing schools? This study suggests that authorizers rarely try to salvage these assets.
Challenges and Charter Schools: How Families with Special Needs Students Perceive and Use Charter School Options
This report addresses choices made at the intersection of two very important trends in education: special education and charter schools.
Performance Pressure and Resource Allocation in Ohio
New accountability systems require that states and districts accomplish something never accomplished before—ensuring that all students meet state standards. This report explores how these expectations have altered resource decisions in Ohio.
Mayoral Intervention: Right for Seattle Schools?
This paper reviews other cities’ experiences with mayoral intervention and provides an evidence base for use in case takeover proposals surface again in Seattle.