National Education Policy Center | School of Education, University of Colorado at Boulder

Spending by Major Charter Management Organizations: Comparing Charter School and Local Public District Financial Resources in New York, Ohio and Texas

This study evaluates the claim that charter schools deliver higher performance at a lower cost, by comparing the per-pupil spending of charter schools operated by major charter management organizations (CMOs) in New York City, Texas and Ohio with district schools. Findings show that schools operated by major CMOs generally spend more than surrounding public schools.

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Colorado Disciplinary Practices, 2008-2010: Disciplinary Actions, Student Behaviors, Race, and Gender

This analysis of the most complete set of Colorado discipline data leads to recommendations to revise school discipline policy to take into account the over-representation of students of color in disciplinary actions, and to collect additional data to better understand patterns in disciplinary practice.

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Review of Three Reports from the Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program

Milwaukee’s voucher program, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), enables low-income residents of the Milwaukee Public School district to enroll at taxpayer expense in private schools that have been certified by the state Department of Public Instruction. Three recent reports on the MPCP, produced by the School Choice Demonstration Project at the University of Arkansas, use largely sound methods, but the data they assemble provide little in the way of an endorsement for the voucher program.

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Review of Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction

An advocacy document outlining a vision for how technology might transform the teaching profession, the report provides little or no empirical research evidence to support its central claim that digital age technologies will improve the education system.

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Review of Our Immense Achievement Gap

The report misrepresents and then criticizes recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Education, a think tank and two independent study groups, each of which recently encouraged particular voluntary efforts to reduce concentrated poverty and achieve racial and socioeconomic integration in schools and housing in Minnesota. In attacking the wrong targets, it distracts rather than focuses the attention of policymakers seeking to close the achievement gap.

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Recent Publications

Spending by the Major Charter Management Organizations: Comparing Charter School and Local Public District Financial Resources

Research Brief

Bruce D. Baker

Ken Libby

Kathryn Wiley

May 5, 2012

Colorado Disciplinary Practices, 2008-2010: Disciplinary Actions, Student Behaviors, Race, and Gender

Research Brief

Ryan Pfleger

Kathryn Wiley

April 30, 2012

The Lesson of the Cupcakes: Fix Schools by Resisting Gimmicks and Heeding Evidence

Policy Memo

Kevin G. Welner

April 25, 2012

Review of Three Reports from the Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program

Think Tank Review

Casey Cobb

April 19, 2012

Review of Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction

Think Tank Review

Luis Huerta

April 3, 2012

Review of Our Immense Achievement Gap

Think Tank Review

Susan Eaton

March 29, 2012

Review of Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning

Think Tank Review

Michael K. Barbour

March 22, 2012

Review of The Louisiana Recovery School District: Lessons for the Buckeye State

Think Tank Review

Kristen L. Buras

March 20, 2012

Meet the Fellows

Keith Gayler

Meet more fellows >>

Best of the Ed Blogs

Growth And Consequences in New York City’s School Rating System

Matthew Di Carlo

May 15, 2012

Studies Suggest Economic Inequity Is Built Into, and Worsened by, School Systems

Paul Thomas

May 15, 2012

After a Decade of NCLB and Florida Test Madness...

Michael Klonsky

May 15, 2012

Thinking about “Corporate Reform”: Reflections on Language

Larry Cuban

May 14, 2012

Failure to Launch Learning

David. B. Cohen

May 14, 2012

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) sponsors research, produces policy briefs, and publishes expert third party reviews of think tank reports. The Center’s publications are written in accessible language and are intended for a broad audience that includes academic experts, policy makers, the media, and the general public. Our goal is to provide high-quality information in support of democratic deliberation about education policy. NEPC is housed at the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education.

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