A Rare Moment of Unanimity

Back in 2008, when Senator Obama was running against Senator McCain, something unusual happened in the final minutes of their third and very contentious, partisan debate. They agreed on something: charter schools were a good thing. They agreed on this one issue because charter schools when done right (as in…

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The ABCs of NYC Charters

The NYC Department of Education (NYC DOE) released its 2012-13 Progress Reports for all public and charter schools*. Charter schools continue to earn a higher distribution of A and B grades than district schools; 69% of charter schools scored an A or B grade over 63% for the district. Learn…

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Mainstream Appeal

Michael Regnier A rigorous new study of charter elementary schools has a startling implication: mainstream general education classrooms at NYC charter schools contain many students who, statistically, would have been assigned to special education had they attended district schools. Charter school educators have been saying this for years, and the…

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Scores and Rumors of Scores

Michael Regnier “It ain't what people don't know that hurts them. It's what they know that ain't so.” Whoever said that didn’t know the charter school debate.* Especially after the release of state test scores, we actually have both problems. Consider the sticky issue of student enrollment patterns. In order…

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