Charters Close the Achievement Gap: NYC Charters Continue to Lead
View Interactive Charts Download Test Scores On Wednesday, the New York State Education Department released results for the 2017-18 grades 3-8 English Language Arts (ELA) and math assessments. As in 2015-16, when the state implemented new testing procedures that differed from past years’ Common Core assessments, these results are not directly comparable to those from […]
What Does Inclusion Look Like?
By Melissa Katz, Director, English Learner Supports The NYC Special Education Collaborative’s mission is to empower schools to develop inclusive education environments. This is an ambitious undertaking given that inclusion is not a teaching strategy, but rather a mindset. In the most basic language, inclusion means any student, regardless of disability, race, language, socio-economic status, […]
Charters Widen the Gap: NYC Charters Continue to Lead
View Interactive Charts Download Test Scores On Tuesday, the New York State Education Department released results for the 2016-17 grades 3-8 English Language Arts (ELA) and math assessments. Unlike 2015-16, when the state implemented new testing procedures that differed from past years’ Common Core assessments, the 2016-17 results are directly comparable to those from the […]
Charters Are Still Not “Creaming” Students
By Michael Pih, Associate Director of Policy & Research Despite significant evidence to the contrary, it’s a common refrain among charter school critics that the strong academic performance of NYC charter schools can be explained by their selective enrollment of students based on certain characteristics, including prior academic performance, or by a practice of counseling […]
The Best Case for Returning to the Funding Formula
By Michael Pih And the funding gap between charters and the district continues to grow… The IBO released an updated report comparing public spending for charter schools to traditional district schools, and its analysis is clear: not only do NYC charter schools receive less in public spending than their district counterparts, but this funding disparity […]
Giving Voice: Special Populations Series
By Dixon Deutsch, Vice President of Special Populations Accountability: College Football vs. Public Schools While enjoying the holidays in my home state of Texas, I received an email from my alma mater – the University of Texas at Austin. The email caught my eye because it referenced a new head coach for the university football […]
Taking the Difficult Path
By James Merriman Recently, one of the mayor’s most important initiatives, building and preserving 200,000 affordable housing units, has hit some roadblocks. While the City Council unanimously passed the legislation that allows for bigger and bulkier buildings to be erected than zoning laws would allow in exchange for the developer making a percentage of the […]
Major Gains Seen in Achievement of Charter School Children in 2015-16 Test Scores
View Interactive Charts Download Test Scores By Michael Pih In what can be described as yet another transition year for New York State testing, NYC charter schools made significant gains, and outperformed their district counterparts in both ELA and Math. As the sector has done for the past three years, math proficiency continues to exceed […]
Out of Options: No Judicial Review for Charter School Non-renewals
By Corey Callahan, General Counsel and VP of Legal Policy In a recent op-ed, James Merriman, the Charter Center’s CEO, reminds us of one of the bedrock principles of chartering: that the autonomy to operate free of many of the hurdles faced by district schools comes with the price of accountability. He goes on to […]
The Devil is in the Details: Ensuring the Future of New York’s Charter Movement
By Michael Pih Somewhat buried in the coverage of the passage of the state’s budget was some great news for charter schools (beyond the needed and much appreciated $430 in additional per pupil for schools statewide). The budget included a little noticed and seemingly small “technical” change making permanent how rental assistance is calculated for […]
