Rumors of Death Premature: Portfolio Management Still Alive and Kicking in New Orleans
Can the portfolio strategy in New Orleans still fog a mirror, or is it dead as Jay Greene has just announced? It looks pretty lively, with all public school kids in charter schools and results improving steadily. Jay is wrong about the death of portfolio and the reasons that drove the return of schools to […]
Waive the Waivers
This piece was originally published as part of Fordham’s 2016 Wonkathon in response to the question: What are the “sleeper provisions” of ESSA that might encourage the further expansion of parental choice, at least if advocates seize the opportunity? ESSA provides states with the opportunity to incentivize school districts to expand parent choice. States now […]
Pop Quiz: Suburbs
Pop quiz: Where do most children in the United States live? A. Cities B. Suburbs If you picked B, you’d be right. Roughly 40 percent of children attending U.S. K-12 schools live in the suburbs, whereas only 30 percent live in cities. Yet, most attention in philanthropy, federal funding, and media focuses on cities, […]
Improving Authorizing to Advance District-Charter Collaboration
District-charter collaboration can be a valuable tool for both sides, not to mention for students and families. Collaboration can result in important work on issues like whether charter schools can use district buildings, how to create effective programs for students with disabilities, how schools are held accountable, or what happens to an expelled student. But […]
Survey Says: Charter Authorizers Have Work to Do on Special Education
Authorizers have an essential role to play in ensuring that charter schools follow all special education laws and produce great results for children with disabilities. For that reason, I found some of the National Association of Charter School Authorizer’s recent survey results on charter school special education oversight pretty depressing and even alarming. The most […]
Principals Are Not at the Top of States’ Talent Agenda—But They Should Be
Teachers have been at the center of most states’ talent discussions to date. Although principals play a critical role in virtually all school-improvement reform efforts, most states lack a coherent school leadership strategy. This is a major oversight. But a few forces are afoot that may help refocus state attention on principals: Education policy leaders […]
Tough Sledding Ahead as NOLA Schools Return to Local Control
The big question about a portfolio school system—where all schools operate under strong performance and equity oversight, but are free to innovate and provide coherent instruction without fear of constant re-regulation—is whether that vision can be accomplished under a locally elected school board’s control. And now, a bill moving quickly through the Louisiana state legislature […]
Following the Money in Personalized Learning
Reorganizing time, talent, technology, and physical space to support personalized learning takes money, planning, and time. Dozens of philanthropies, new support organizations, and policy groups are dedicated to helping schools implement this model. To date, philanthropic dollars have footed the bill for most start-up costs in many personalized learning schools. However, if personalized learning models […]
Wrap-Around Services Alone Won’t Improve Student Outcomes
More and more cities are trying community schools, which wrap health, dental, therapeutic, and family support services around existing schools to try to mitigate the effects of poverty and thereby improve students’ learning and life prospects. This idea is not new; its modern incarnation started in Cincinnati in the early 2000s and has now spread […]
Roots of Engagement in Baton Rouge
Too often, well-intended systemic school reform initiatives in this country have been largely top-down affairs. Typical community engagement in these efforts might include holding meetings with residents, community groups, and families to solicit buy-in for plans and changes already well underway. But the deeper work of building relationships over time, through trust and understanding with […]