Tulsa: Emergent District-Charter Collaboration
Tulsa, which operates in a state not widely receptive to charter schools, has set a bold course of collaboration between the district and charter sectors. Following a difficult history that included anti-charter litigation in 2007 by Tulsa Public Schools, TPS and three district-authorized charter schools signed a District-Charter Collaboration Compact in January 2014. Superintendent Keith […]
What We’re Missing on Community Engagement
To wrap up our 2-day Portfolio Network Meeting in January, a meeting focused on good educational options and choices for all families, we asked Raymond Jetson to address these questions: “Why is community engagement not working? Why are families and communities unhappy with reformers’ efforts to improve low-performing schools?” Raymond A. Jetson is pastor at […]
Let’s Kill Innovation
In the past couple of years I’ve probably used the word “innovation” thousands of times and read or heard it thousands of times more. Naturally. I worked in an Office of Innovation (inside the Division of Talent, Labor and Innovation) running “Innovate NYC Schools” (Twitter handle @innovatenycedu), which was funded by a grant from the […]
Walking in Memphis: A Reality Check on Civil Rights and Education
As an education reporter, I frequently inserted this oft-uttered phrase into my articles: “Education is the civil rights issue of our time.” I did so because it is very difficult to engage readers, even parents, on education topics. There’s a dearth of education reporters and a tendency for education stories to focus on over-tested kids, […]
A Grand Bargain on Title I: Fulfilling the Promise
When the Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Lamar Alexander (R-TN), recently released a draft bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (otherwise known as the No Child Left Behind Act), reaction was swift. At issue is the $14 billion in Title I funds—designed to drive extra money to […]
New Orleans: Special Education Solutions
While many charter school leaders across the country grapple with how to best provide and pay for special education, New Orleans recently became the first city in the nation to tackle special education on the fiscal, human capital, and program fronts in the context of a full-choice public education landscape. Over time, it may offer […]
What We Mean When We Talk About School Choice
Earlier this month, CRPE brought together 180 district and charter leaders from 30 cities around the country in Memphis for a meeting on school choice: “Good Options and Choices for All Families” was the theme, and is a major component of the portfolio strategy. We covered sessions on a number of issues related to choice—enrollment […]
“That’s Not How We Do Things”: Cui Bono Redux
To a certain kind of mind, the status quo has no risks and no costs. The “way we do things” is seen as, if not the best of all possible worlds, then at least a sort of unexaminable state of nature. To this mind, only new ways of thinking and doing have downsides and they […]
Let’s Not Poke Our Own Eyes Out
Lamar Alexander, the new head of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has set off the long-delayed reauthorization process for ESEA. Testing is taking center stage in the debate. There is no shortage of critics (and no real defenders) of the quality of current tests and how they are used for accountability. There […]
Cui Bono: Conflicts of Interest Are in the Eyes of the Beholder
Everything that schools do, they buy, one way or another. Whether it’s professional development, curricula and tests, or pencils, hamburger, and software, the choice is the same: either spend money on salaries and materials to make it yourself, or pay someone else to spend their money on salaries and materials and then buy it from […]