Charter Schools
RttT has already had biggest impact of any grant program
Race to the Top strikes again! The mother of all grant programs has produced more reform than any grant program in history. And the feds haven’t spent a dime yet. Three quarters of the states have indicated that they’ll be applying for phase 1 grants in January and most have…
5 charter authorizing strategies to max RttT
It’s time to rethink charter school authorization. There are 5,000 charter schools in the US (about 5% of the total number of schools) and a push from the Department of Education for more. Given that half of the charters aren’t any better than traditional public schools, there has been a push…
What a state with no online options should do
There are still a few states where students can’t all or part of their learning online. Here’s three reasons it makes sense to adopt online learning policies: With the push for high common standards including advanced math and science, there simply aren’t enough qualified teachers to fill needs in many…
Charters show the way forward
Given the US challenge of achieving quality at scale—the combination of equity and excellence—the most important innovation of the last decade is charter networks. Their success is undeniable. Their lessons are clear. Key elements include: clear goals and a strong college-bound no-excuses culture; data-driven instruction and performance-based employment; extended learning…
A new twist to parent involvement–the 'reset' button
“Parent involvement” in education often means “make your kid behave” and “donate to the PTA.” Parent involvement is taking on a serious new role in Los Angles. If more than half of the parents of students in struggling demand change, educational options improve—charter schools are opened in their neighborhood, their…
KIPP has optimized the Standards v1.0 school
Standards and common assessments were introduced 15 years ago. KIPP took the expectations expressed by state tests seriously and made numerous process improvements to the old model of school. At the middle school I visited Monday, 100% of the Kipsters had passed the state math test. This KIPP school…
Brighter Choices in Albany
Spent an amazing day touring Brighter Choice schools in Albany–the best example of high charter market share and high quality. Brighter Choice serves about 25% of Albany public school students and that will grow to more than 40% as approved schools achieve full enrollment. Of particular note: Most of…
Racing to the top in Baton Rouge
Duncan’s Race to the Top is not simply a race to beat out other states for funding, or to pass “qualifying” language at the last minute, it is a competition to see who can work collaboratively and innovatively with real commitment to education reform. The challenge is so great…
Regression to the mean
Last week, Reed Hastings predicted the future. He suggested that elected school boards all regress to the mean and that it’s impossible to create continuity of leadership. Denver had the most aggressive reform agenda of any district led by an elected board until yesterday when they began…
Blended Restarts
There are about 10,000 really bad schools in America. The majority are elementary schools. We know how to make them better, but it takes political will and capacity to improve them. We know less about turning around bad secondary schools. The one thing wrong with them is everything. That makes…