Tag Archives: charter schools

Let Us Not Be Blamed: A Meditation on the State of Teacher Unionism, Corporate America, and Poverty

Summary: Unions are targeted by corporate based reformers as the bad guy, and do need to take better charge of the debate, but the real culprit at base is the political failure to impact poverty. Maureen (we shall call her) … Continue reading

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Charter Schools: Russakov’s The Prize, and Lessons from Newark

Summary: Dale Russakov’s tale of the assault by reformers on Newark Schools is a saga of conflict, righteous myopia, entrenched interests, unintended consequences, upheaval in neighborhoods, grudging progress, and a rending of social fabric; yet in the end no easy … Continue reading

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Charter Schools Revisited: The Washington Supreme Court Throws a Curve Ball

Summary: In a major blow to the belated arrival of charter schools in Washington State, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled that charter schools in the state cannot receive public funds dedicated to “common schools” because they are not governed … Continue reading

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School Reform and the Suspension Trap; Charters Learn the Lesson

Summary: High profile charters in New Orleans learn the lesson good public high schools have known for a while. Suspension often has to take a back seat to more nuanced and humanly intensive interventions in the lives of the kids … Continue reading

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Charter Schools: The Search for the Golden Mean

Summary: After lagging behind other parts of the country in establishing charter schools, the state of Washington is poised to enter the arena after enabling legislation was passed via a recent initiative. An article in the Seattle Times which explores … Continue reading

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School Reform: Yes, There Is Some Good News!

Summary: School reform is a long and often discouraging slog. This is a pause to celebrate the many hopeful events and trends that together refresh for the next round. It is time to celebrate positives in the many headed effort … Continue reading

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Charter Schools and the Selling of Short Term Teachers

  Summary:  How is it that young charter teachers achieve results comparable to their more experienced traditional public school brethren, and why do so many in both camps leave teaching so prematurely? Whether or not any charter iteration creates a … Continue reading

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School Reform and Politics: Teach for America and Its Political Identity

Summary: Has Teach for America been hijacked by conservative and market ideology? Teach for America has become a political lightning rod in the struggle over reform in American education. The organization was originally conceived as an avenue through which to … Continue reading

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School Reform and Bureaucracy: The Washington State Charter Battle

Summary: A lawsuit challenging Washington’s new charter school law on constitutional grounds may be embarrassingly in the end a defense of a dysfunctional status quo. I believe in teachers. Not the Type A’s that reformers would like to attract from … Continue reading

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School Reform: Yes, Put the Principal in Charge, But That Ain’t All

Summary: Moves to give principals the authority to determine who will work in the school building for which they are responsible make sense, but to do so is but one of several interlocking changes that need to proceed together. One … Continue reading

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