Download or read book The Charter School Experience written by Michael Bitz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-10-26 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Charter School Experience: Voices from the Field is a unique book that presents readers with balanced perspectives from teachers, students, parents, and school leaders at charter schools across the United States. Through first-person narratives, the book highlights the delicate intricacies of what makes a school charter succeed or fail. Unlike a book written by academics far removed from the practice of education, this book gives voice to the people most impacted by charters: the families and educators who have embraced these schools for better or worse, and who now have enriching stories to tell. These experiences—embodied in introspective and moving chapters—go well beyond the news headlines and politicized studies that have spotlighted charters in the past. In this book, teachers highlight their successes and failures in charter school classrooms, parents explore decisions to enroll in charters, school leaders discuss the social missions of charters, and students write about how charter schools have impacted their lives. The result is an engaging collection of ideas for a wide audience, including people researching, attending, and making policy on charter schools in the United States and around the world.
Download or read book Charter School City written by Douglas N. Harris and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-07-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of the tragedy and destruction that came with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, public schools in New Orleans became part of an almost unthinkable experiment—eliminating the traditional public education system and completely replacing it with charter schools and school choice. Fifteen years later, the results have been remarkable, and the complex lessons learned should alter the way we think about American education. New Orleans became the first US city ever to adopt a school system based on the principles of markets and economics. When the state took over all of the city’s public schools, it turned them over to non-profit charter school managers accountable under performance-based contracts. Students were no longer obligated to attend a specific school based upon their address, allowing families to act like consumers and choose schools in any neighborhood. The teacher union contract, tenure, and certification rules were eliminated, giving schools autonomy and control to hire and fire as they pleased. In Charter School City, Douglas N. Harris provides an inside look at how and why these reform decisions were made and offers many surprising findings from one of the most extensive and rigorous evaluations of a district school reform ever conducted. Through close examination of the results, Harris finds that this unprecedented experiment was a noteworthy success on almost every measurable student outcome. But, as Harris shows, New Orleans was uniquely situated for these reforms to work well and that this market-based reform still required some specific and active roles for government. Letting free markets rule on their own without government involvement will not generate the kinds of changes their advocates suggest. Combining the evidence from New Orleans with that from other cities, Harris draws out the broader lessons of this unprecedented reform effort. At a time when charter school debates are more based on ideology than data, this book is a powerful, evidence-based, and in-depth look at how we can rethink the roles for governments, markets, and nonprofit organizations in education to ensure that America’s schools fulfill their potential for all students.
Download or read book Scripting the Moves written by Joanne W. Golann and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inside look at a "no-excuses" charter school that reveals this educational model’s strengths and weaknesses, and how its approach shapes students Silent, single-file lines. Detention for putting a head on a desk. Rules for how to dress, how to applaud, how to complete homework. Walk into some of the most acclaimed urban schools today and you will find similar recipes of behavior, designed to support student achievement. But what do these “scripts” accomplish? Immersing readers inside a “no-excuses” charter school, Scripting the Moves offers a telling window into an expanding model of urban education reform. Through interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and parents, and analysis of documents and data, Joanne Golann reveals that such schools actually dictate too rigid a level of social control for both teachers and their predominantly low-income Black and Latino students. Despite good intentions, scripts constrain the development of important interactional skills and reproduce some of the very inequities they mean to disrupt. Golann presents a fascinating, sometimes painful, account of how no-excuses schools use scripts to regulate students and teachers. She shows why scripts were adopted, what purposes they serve, and where they fall short. What emerges is a complicated story of the benefits of scripts, but also their limitations, in cultivating the tools students need to navigate college and other complex social institutions—tools such as flexibility, initiative, and ease with adults. Contrasting scripts with tools, Golann raises essential questions about what constitutes cultural capital—and how this capital might be effectively taught. Illuminating and accessible, Scripting the Moves delves into the troubling realities behind current education reform and reenvisions what it takes to prepare students for long-term success.
Download or read book Keeping the Promise written by Samuel Yigzaw and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2008-02 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For parents, teachers, administrators, and policy makers, this is an insider's look at how charter schools successfully challenge the assumption that there is only one model of public education. Yigzaw documents the turbulent start-up years of Higher Ground Academy, the school's continued day-to-day struggles to stay true to its mission, and the accomplishments and rewards they've already achieved as the school continues to grow and evolve. Yigzaw offers a brief history of the charter school movement, an in-depth discussion of what sets charter schools apart from traditional public schools, and a thorough examination of No Child Left Behind, the Standards movement, and what he sees as the four greatest concerns for modern charter schools.
Download or read book Charter Schools written by Deb Yoder and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2007-01-23 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charter schools are public schools that may be started by anyone willing to do the work and who can get approval from a chartering authority. Over the last ten years, charter schools have popped up all over the nation. These schools are officially public schools, but there are a few differences. Charters are the epitome of local control. They offer a much wider variety of choices to parents and students than do the traditional public schools. In their years of being directly involved in charter school teaching and administration, Deb and Judy have seen the excitement these schools have brought to education, but they have also found a few unsettling pitfalls that need to be avoided to insure charter school success. They have compiled their thoughts and experiences with the intention of publishing a book for charter school boards and principals. This book could also be of assistance to those groups that are interested in starting a charter school or joining the charter school community. Deb and Judy hope that sharing the lessons they have learned can help others to avoid some common mistakes that have been made early in the charter school movement.
Download or read book On the Rocketship written by Richard Whitmire and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-05-15 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The face of American education is evolving—and the roadmap is clear On the Rocketship: How Top Charter Schools are Pushing the Envelope examines the rise and expansion of leading charter school network Rocketship, revealing the "secret sauce" that makes a successful program. A strong narrative with a timely message, the book explores how Rocketship started and the difficulties encountered as it expands. Designing schools for children who have been failed by traditional schools is extremely challenging work. Setbacks are inevitable. Later in the book the narrative shifts to the national picture, exploring how high performing charter schools are changing the education landscape in cities such as Denver, Memphis, and Houston. The book emerges just as charter schools are running into stiff political opposition in New York City and elsewhere. Even in San Jose, Rocketship's home base, the pushback against charter schools is gaining speed. On the Rocketship becomes a valuable resource for explaining what's at stake in this battle. Lose these schools, in New York, San Jose and other cities, and low-income and minority students lose their best shot at a quality education. Written by a veteran journalist who followed Rocketship through a school year, the book explores some of the factors that make Rocketship and other charters successful, including the blended learning that was pioneered at charter schools, especially Rocketship. Many schools around the country are looking to Rocketship as a model for implementing blended learning. The interplay between charter schools and blended learning is setting a change in motion, and the American education system is ready to evolve. On the Rocketship details this phenomenon, providing insights for educators across the nation.
Download or read book A Charter School Principal s Story written by Barbara Smith and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-12-05 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens when a Canadian principal, guided by the teachings of Fullan and Hargreaves, takes on the role of school leader in an inner-city charter school in the United States? This inside story of a principal in the DC charter school system, reveals much about the desire for educators and students to experience more than a life of multiple-choice testing that tends to be so commonplace in these schools. While such a case adds to the mound of research that supports the ‘change takes time’ findings, it nevertheless demonstrates the reality, on a day-to-day basis, of what’s worth fighting for in schools. Student and teacher engagement and empowerment matter, and to get to such ends, a school must fiercely focus on targets well beyond test scores. This book speaks about how a budget reveals school values, and by shifting resources to support staff and student development, a school, coping with regular turnover, can be filled with more confident and capable community members. A school crawling with leaders emerged as more student, teacher and non-instructional staff were supported in new roles, aimed at building an inspired culture, with the talent and capacity to move others to action. The old ways of ‘doing school’ do not address the needs of the 21st century learner, and while many forces with limited views of education were at play, this story does provide an example of what promising things can and should happen to increase engagement and learning in more charter schools across America. “Dr. Barbara Smith’s narrative of her times in public charter schools offers all of us insights into the struggle to create schools of high academic quality and compassionate care, worthy of her educational mandate and mission.” – David Booth, Professor Emeritus, The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto “Dr. Smith’s message inspires me to be an advocate for education and her work will inspire you as well!” – Jalen Rose, Chair of Board of Directors, Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, Detroit, Michigan, ESPN Commentator “This inside look provides an opportunity for innovation in a field that has held to aging standards for far too long!” – Diane C. Manica, Former Director, Leadership and Accreditation, University of Detroit Mercy
Download or read book Adventures of Charter School Creators written by Terrence E. Deal and published by R&L Education. This book was released on 2004 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adventures of Charter School Creators takes the reader inside the world of individual educational entrepreneurs who have created charter schools from scratch and lived to tell about it. Drawn from examples across the country, individuals (and a few teams) tell their stories of the victories they enjoyed and the defeats they overcame to create their schools. They include an Episcopal priest working in the Pico-Union community of Los Angeles, a corporate attorney in Miami, a manpower training specialist in East Saint Louis, the chief financial officer of a major African American church in New York City, a retired military officer in North Carolina, as well as experienced school teachers and administrators. From these stories Deal and Hentschke extract and examine the issues of school leadership that are peculiar to those school leaders who have chosen to create schools from scratch. This book: Examines entrepreneurial leadership as a concrete manifestation of school leadership. Sheds light on the concrete differences between leadership in relatively autonomous start-up charters and the relatively dependent traditional schools. Anchors charter school leadership within the context of general (non-education) leadership and distinguishes it from what is typically associated with school leadership today. It describes: The general forces in society which are pushing public K-12 education into market-based initiatives. The general leadership issues of any break-away or start-up enterprise. Will be of interest to all educators.
Download or read book Charter Schools written by Liane Brouillette and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-03-01 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes the reader inside the charter school movement, answering such questions as: *What is a charter school? *How are charter schools different from other public schools? *What does it take to create a charter school? *What motivates the people who initiate such schools? *What lessons can be learned from the experiences of those who have founded charter schools? *What does the growth of the charter school movement mean for society at large? Using detailed case studies of seven schools in three states, this book explores the challenges faced by the founders of these schools and develops guidelines for creating a successful school. Seymour Sarason's work on the creation of settings is used as a basis for examining the complex human interactions that contributed to formation of a unique culture at each school, as well as to establish guidelines for setting up a successful school. Introductory and concluding chapters place the charter school movement within a broader social and historical context. Tensions between the American tradition of local control of schools and the centralized tradition of schooling imported from Europe in the late 19th century are discussed. The gradual bureaucratization of U.S. public schools during the 20th century is described, along with problems that have been associated with the increasingly hierarchical and impersonal nature of educational institutions.
Download or read book School Choice In The Real World written by Robert Maranto and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-27 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents the first published accounts and evaluations of the first free market in education in the U.S., Arizona charter schools.. The charter school is fast becoming one of the most significant attempts at public education reform in this country. Over 1100 charter schools operate in twenty-seven states, with several hundred more to be added in the next two years. School Choice in the Real World looks at the charter school movement through a highly focused lens: it examines charter schools in Arizona, which currently account for nearly one-quarter of all charter schools. Using this state as a case study, the editors examine the experiences of actual charter school operators, social scientific analysis, policy discussions, and criticism and forecasting for the future. School choice is the most talked about reform of American public education, yet writings about choice remain highly speculative because no state has adopted a free market approach to education--until now. The charter school is fast becoming one of the most significant attempts at public education reform in this country. Over 1100 charter schools operate in twenty-seven states, with several hundred more to be added in the next two years. School Choice in the Real World looks at the charter school movement through a highly focused lens: it examines charter schools in Arizona, which currently account for nearly one-quarter of all charter schools.Since 1994, Arizona has implemented a charter school law with the lowest barriers to entry in the nation. As a result, Arizona has more than 200 charter school campuses. Some districts have even lost more than 10% of their students to charter schools. Using the state of Arizona as a case study, the editors examine the experiences of actual charter school operators, social scientific analysis, policy discussions, and criticism and forecasting for the future. The editors bring together academics, policy-makers, and practicioners, and they explain and evaluate how school choice works in the real world.
Download or read book Serving Our Children written by Kevin P. Chavous and published by Capital Books. This book was released on 2004 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Washington, D.C., council member Chavous has long been an outspoken advocate for educational reform that serves the needs of all of the nation's children. Having been at the forefront of the charter school movement, Chavous now explores what his city has learned from the charter school experience and what it means to American public education as a whole.
Download or read book Reign of Error written by Diane Ravitch and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-08-26 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. assistant secretary of education, an incisive, comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair; an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement that is draining students and funding from our public schools. In a chapter-by-chapter breakdown she puts forth a plan for what can be done to preserve and improve our public schools. She makes clear what is right about U.S. education, how policy makers are failing to address the root causes of educational failure, and how we can fix it.
Download or read book Twenty First Century Jim Crow Schools written by Raynard Sanders and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How charter schools have taken hold in three cities—and why parents, teachers, and community members are fighting back Charter schools once promised a path towards educational equity, but as the authors of this powerful volume show, market-driven education reforms have instead boldly reestablished a tiered public school system that segregates students by race and class. Examining the rise of charters in New Orleans, Chicago, and New York, authors Raynard Sanders, David Stovall, and Terrenda White show how charters—private institutions, usually set in poor or working-class African American and Latinx communities—promote competition instead of collaboration and are driven chiefly by financial interests. Sanders, Stovall, and White also reveal how corporate charters position themselves as “public” to secure tax money but exploit their private status to hide data about enrollment and salaries, using misleading information to promote false narratives of student success. In addition to showing how charter school expansion can deprive students of a quality education, the authors document several other lasting consequences of charter school expansion: • the displacement of experienced African American teachers • the rise of a rigid, militarized pedagogy such as SLANT • the purposeful starvation of district schools • and the loss of community control and oversight A revealing and illuminating look at one of the greatest threats to public education, Twenty-First-Century Jim Crow Schools explores how charter schools have shaped the educational landscape and why parents, teachers, and community members are fighting back.
Download or read book How The Other Half Learns written by Robert Pondiscio and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-06-02 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inside look at America's most controversial charter schools, and the moral and political questions around public education and school choice. The promise of public education is excellence for all. But that promise has seldom been kept for low-income children of color in America. In How the Other Half Learns, teacher and education journalist Robert Pondiscio focuses on Success Academy, the network of controversial charter schools in New York City founded by Eva Moskowitz, who has created something unprecedented in American education: a way for large numbers of engaged and ambitious low-income families of color to get an education for their children that equals and even exceeds what wealthy families take for granted. Her results are astonishing, her methods unorthodox. Decades of well-intended efforts to improve our schools and close the "achievement gap" have set equity and excellence at war with each other: If you are wealthy, with the means to pay private school tuition or move to an affluent community, you can get your child into an excellent school. But if you are poor and black or brown, you have to settle for "equity" and a lecture--about fairness. About the need to be patient. And about how school choice for you only damages public schools for everyone else. Thousands of parents have chosen Success Academy, and thousands more sit on waiting lists to get in. But Moskowitz herself admits Success Academy "is not for everyone," and this raises uncomfortable questions we'd rather not ask, let alone answer: What if the price of giving a first-rate education to children least likely to receive it means acknowledging that you can't do it for everyone? What if some problems are just too hard for schools alone to solve?
Download or read book A Charter School Principal Story written by Barbara J. Smith and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2024-03-21 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens when a Canadian principal, guided by the teachings of Fullan and Hargreaves, takes on the role of school leader in an inner-city charter school in the United States? This inside story of a principal in the DC charter school system, reveals much about the desire for educators and students to experience more than a life of multiple-choice testing that tends to be so commonplace in these schools. While such a case adds to the mound of research that supports the ‘change takes time’ findings, it nevertheless demonstrates the reality, on a day-to-day basis, of what’s worth fighting for in schools. Student and teacher engagement and empowerment matter, and to get to such ends, a school must fiercely focus on targets well beyond test scores.
Download or read book Charter Schools written by Steve P. Jefferson and published by Universal-Publishers. This book was released on 2004 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this book was to describe the variables that contributed to the establishment of a charter school in an urban Arizona and rural California school district, noting the similarities and dissimilarities and disclosing the factors used to justify implementation of the Montessori theory of education. The secondary purpose of this book was to describe the guidelines for maintaining a charter school, the evaluation methods and factors used in the school's unique experience with staff development. The two schools experienced many similarities when the same variables were applied to both schools. As a result, the stakeholders of both schools used the principles of the organizational theory area of empowerment to implement choices in curriculum. This book provides an insight for parents, teachers, and community leaders to develop strategies by utilizing the same principles to meet the educational needs of children.
Download or read book A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door written by Jack Schneider and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2023-03-07 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A trenchant analysis of how public education is being destroyed in overt and deceptive ways—and how to fight back In the “vigorous, well-informed” (Kirkus Reviews) A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, the co-hosts of the popular education podcast Have You Heard expose the potent network of conservative elected officials, advocacy groups, funders, and think tanks that are pushing a radical vision to do away with public education. “Cut[ing] through the rhetorical fog surrounding a host of free-market reforms and innovations” (Mike Rose), Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire lay bare the dogma of privatization and reveal how it fits into the current context of right-wing political movements. A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door “goes above and beyond the typical explanations” (SchoolPolicy.org), giving readers an up-close look at the policies—school vouchers, the war on teachers’ unions, tax credit scholarships, virtual schools, and more—driving the movement’s agenda. Called “well-researched, carefully argued, and alarming” by Library Journal, this smart, essential book has already incited a public reckoning on behalf of the millions of families served by the American educational system—and many more who stand to suffer from its unmaking. “Just as with good sci-fi,” according to Jacobin, “the authors make a compelling case that, based on our current trajectory, a nightmare future is closer than we think.”
