School Choice

In a blow to the Philadelphia School District's historic privatization experiment, the School Reform Commission voted yesterday to seize six schools from outside managers and warned them that they are in danger of losing 20 others if progress is not made.

Maybe you've seen the billboards, or the ads on the side of a bus. For years, the public Sacramento Charter High School has recruited students the same way private schools do: paid advertising

Utah charter school teachers want to clear up some misconceptions. Charter schools are public schools. Teachers are required to be certified.

VietNamNet Bridge – Only 57% of students have registered to study at state-run high schools, while others have chosen people-founded schools despite high tuition fees.

By STEPHANIE FARR
GINA MAYS of Chester was relieved when she learned that her son had been accepted by Widener University to begin his educational career. In kindergarten.

By Eleanor Holmes Norton
I believe we can get beyond the controversy and recrimination concerning the controversial D.C. School Choice Incentive Act. Like most Americans, District residents and public officials, including me, opposed public funds for private schools when the act was passed by Congress as a five-year pilot program.

Board's unanimous vote continues steady growth of the city's charter sector, although deliberations might also reflect acknowledgment of criticism from the D.C. Council.

Officials at a proposed Hebrew-language charter school in Brooklyn are planning to fund their own space rather than seize classrooms in an existing public-school building.

Julia Steiny
Michael Martins is the sort of kid who might burst into song any moment. His fascination with old movies and Broadway musicals inspired his friends to nickname him “Broadway” or “Mr. Way.” As his father put it, “Michael’s a different kind of kid. He doesn’t do what other teens do. He doesn’t get Adam Sandler [a raunchy comedian]. At his Eagle Scout presentation, Michael talked about the road less traveled.”

Theresa B. Lee Academy, a Fort Worth charter school discovered cheating on 2005 TAKS tests, is failing in virtually every regard, according to state records. Yet it remains open.

Charter-type program could upset unions
Governor Deval Patrick, in a potential break with the teachers unions that helped elect him, is set to propose a new form of public school that would assume unprecedented control over matters ranging from curriculum and hiring decisions to policies on school uniforms and the length of the school year.

Ready for better schools
A PLAN BY the Patrick administration to create autonomous "readiness schools" should help students, provided the proposal does not become a stalking horse for an attack on charter schools. There is plenty of room for both models, especially in cities and towns with poorly performing schools.

Charter schools in the San Fernando Valley, already among the highest-performing schools in LAUSD, are outperforming their traditional counterparts, a study released Tuesday by the California Charter Schools Association said.

Parents who packed a recent Rochester Academy Charter School open house peppered school leaders with questions that revealed excitement and anxiety about what will be the city's first charter high school

It's the $64,000 question of public education: Are charter schools better than their traditional public school counterparts? A report to be released today from the California Charter Schools Assn. takes a crack at it, comparing charter schools in Los Angeles with their traditional peers. Its conclusion is that charters generally perform better academically than nearby regular public schools, and that charters improve as they age.