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These hybrid schools are blowing up the public education model

National Charter Schools Conference Coverage

The Wisdom of the Marketplace

The Wisdom of the Marketplace

Charter schools have moved from fringe to mainstay in New Orleans, leaving uncertain parents a dizzying array of options. Can they really sort them out?

A How-To on Managing the Message

Before I came to Columbia J-School and to News21, I worked in public relations for international corporate and political clients. So I was interested to see how some schools in the charter school movement use corporate and political image management strategies to sell, promote, and protect their brands in the new public education [...]

Charter advocates lobby for more federal support

Charter advocates lobby for more federal support

Hundreds of charter school advocates went to Capitol Hill to lobby for pro-charter legislation on Wednesday.

A how-to on electing pro-charter school politicians

Because charter schools receive public money, they are often regulated by their school districts so that only a certain number of them can open in a district per year. This is called a charter cap, and caps are largely opposed by the charter enthusiasts.
I am listening to Sean Bradley of the U.S. Department of Education [...]

Charter school goody bag

Charter school goody bag

Here’s what’s in the National Charter School Conference swag bags: a book called Beating the Odds: Inside Five Urban Charter Schools, a bumper sticker that says, “My Child Learns at a Charter School!;” a flash drive from one of the vendors; a DVD called The Providence Effect; the Picky Parent Guide’s Choose your child’s school with confidence; [...]

The Jay Mathews Band

The Jay Mathews Band

One big question at this conference is about replication–not whether, but how to replicate successful charter models like KIPP in other struggling public school districts.
A panel of heavy hitters in the charter school world led by Jay Mathews, Washington Post education columnist, set out to tackle that issue head on.
Mathews, not surprisingly, was undaunted by the notion [...]

Replay of Live Coverage of Joel Klein’s Keynote Address

Replay of Live Coverage of Joel Klein’s Keynote Address

<a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&#038;task=viewaltcast&#038;altcast_code=693cde992f” mce_href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;altcast_code=693cde992f” >Live Coverage of National Charter Schools Conference</a>

Let’s all be friends

Let’s all be friends

Q and A with Steve Barr, founder of Green Dot Public Schools.

First group of Chicago charter schools unionized

A couple of press people from the 1.4 million member American Federation of Teachers came into the conference’s newsroom to let us know that a group of Chicago charter schools have voted, after a protracted battle with their administrators, to unionize. Union representatives are not among the more well-represented groups here at the National Charter [...]

Charter school participant on the street

I talked to a charter school president between panels. Here’s our conversation:

Democracy Prep wants to be in Rhode Island

Democracy Prep wants to be in Rhode Island

After Arne Duncan finished his portion of the keynote address for the opening of the National Charter School Conference he took a few questions from some of the participants. One of the questions was from Seth Andrew, head of Democracy Prep in Harlem.
News21 covered the admissions lottery at Democracy Prep this past spring.
Seth’s buddy, [...]

Comparing charter and public school students

The panel on the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, or CREDO’s National Charter School Study (Here’s a news story about the study) here at the conference is packed. People are actually spilling out of the room.
If it seems befuddling to you that a lecture on an education study would draw such a crowd, consider [...]

The question of quality

James Forman Jr. on the challenges facing the charter school movement.

The Lesser Known Section of the Charter Movement

The Lesser Known Section of the Charter Movement

The debate over special education students in charter schools.

Live Coverage of National Charter Schools Conference

On the scene at the largest annual event focused on charter schools.