Once we move from the debate on charters versus district schools, the next question for both sectors to consider is this: What does great education look like? According to Ted Fujimoto, founder of the Right to Succeed Foundation, it doesn’t look like what we have now...
Moving from “Charter vs. District” to the 21st century
What Makes Innovation Sustainable?
The term “innovation” doesn’t mean much unless it is definable and sustainable. That’s why I appreciated recent comments by Ted Fujimoto of Landmark Consulting, which is a firm dedicated to scaling innovations in learning...
New Tech Network — “Whole-School Design”
New Tech Network (NTN) is looking for a few good partners. Charter schools? Yes. School Districts? Yes. Could your school be one? According to Ted Fujimoto of Landmark Consulting Group (dedicated to scaling innovations in learning) in this Education Dive interview, any community that wants to transform its existing schools or launch new ones can leverage nearly 20 years of experience...
“Innovation Zone” Values: Flexibility, Autonomy, Collaboration
How might policymakers create an “Innovation Zone” in K-12 education where learning is personalized and students are motivated to reach new heights? According to a March 4 Star Tribune Commentary by a former Minnesota Education Commissioner and two current school district superintendents, creating flexibility, autonomy and collaboration for educators is key to making Innovation Zones work...
“Innovation Zones”– A School Redesign for All
Transportation and Digital Strategies to Help Rural Chartering Succeed
How do you reduce transportation and operational costs in rural areas serving far-flung students? Try a four-day school week or supplementing with technology like “Beyond Textbooks.” A recent report by the National Charter School Resource Center at Safal Partners reported that the vast majority of the 100 school districts in 17 states currently operating on a four-day-week schedule are located in rural areas in districts serving fewer than 1,000 students...
Celebrating Ag and Environment in Successful Rural Chartering
Rural charter schools face special challenges, as described in our blog last week from a recent report by the National Charter School Resource Center at Safal Partners. But that doesn’t mean rural schools aren’t succeeding. They are! Why not celebrate the special relationship that rural schools have...
Challenges Faced by Rural Charter Schools
In an eye-opening report recently produced by the National Charter School Resource Center at Safal Partners, three key challenges were noted as barriers to growth of chartering in rural areas. While all charter schools face similar challenges, remote geography and sparse resources of rural areas make these challenges more acute for rural charter schools...
Rural Schools: The Next Frontier for Chartering?
When I visited Idaho last month, a largely rural state, to boost their chartering sector, my eyes were opened. As Terry Ryan, President of the Idaho Charter School Network aptly summarized in a recent report, “The charter school revolution has largely bypassed rural America and its students.”...
More Policy Reflections for 2016
The Center of the American Experiment, a Minnesota conservative think tank, included a number of policy recommendations for Education “Student Achievement and Prosperity” in their 2014 Minnesota Policy Blueprint. With state legislatures again in session, the time is right to examine a few of them, particularly around chartering...
Is American Education Keeping Up?
Minnesota educators can take some pride in overall education results. For example, we were ranked first or second, among all states, in several rankings reported by the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2013. The problem, however, is that our main economic competitors in coming years will not be other states, but other nations...
Reflections on State 2015 Charter Law Changes
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, in their 2016 ranking of state charter school laws, reports that 2015 “was largely a positive year for charter public school legislation across the country.” For the most part I agree...
Why 1/3 of America Thinks Charter Schools are Private Schools
Chartering Policy: Key to State Success
As I travel the country, I’m always surprised at how legislatures find ways to complicate the basic fundamentals of the original charter law. The model law of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is based on those fundamentals, so its annual ranking of 43 charter school laws in the U.S. is instructive...
Boise, Idaho: Celebrating 25 Years of School Choice in America
For me, there is no greater privilege than to present the origins of chartering and help dispel the myths of chartering to an audience of legislators, including key education committee leaders. That was the opportunity presented me in Boise, Idaho January 18-19, hosted by the nonprofit organization Bluum, led by Chief Executive Officer Terry Ryan. It was my first state visit of 2016 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the passage of the first charter school law...
National School Choice Week: Celebrate New Energy in Non-Chartering States
2016 is the 25th Anniversary year of the passage of the first charter school law in Minnesota in June, 1991. Since then, chartering has spread to 43 states, Guam, the District of Columbia, Alberta, Canada, and even to the Kurdish region of Iraq. Yet, seven states still resist passage of a charter school law...
National School Choice Week: Celebrate Recent Congressional Support!
The Family Engagement Collaborative
A research team at Johns Hopkins University recently evaluated the impact of home visits that occurred in a partnership between Flamboyan Foundation and a dozen Washington DC elementary schools in which 95% of students were eligible for free or reduced lunch, and 96% of students were of color. Their findings...