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In the last couple of years, Sharon Akman, a real estate agent, applied to the state of New Jersey three times to open a new charter school in the Highland Park area, to be called Tikun Olam Hebrew Language Charter High School. Then on Oct. 6, one week after the state's most recent rejection, the United States Education Department announced that it had approved a $600,000 grant to finance Ms. Akman's proposed charter.

As we once again begin discussing & debating the appropriate role for Charter schools in New Jersey's education reform "mix," here's a round-up on the New Jersey charter school numbers, in terms of demographic comparisons to all other public and charter schools in the same 'city' and proficiency rates (across all grades) compared to all others in the same 'city.'

A series of studies from Roland Fryer and colleagues have explored the effectiveness of specific charter school models and strategies, including Harlem Childrens' Zone (Dobbie & Fryer, 2009), "no excuses" charter schools in New York City (Dobbie & Fryer, 2011), schools within the Houston public school district (Apollo 20) mimicking no excuses charter strategies (Fryer, 2011, Fryer, 2012), and an intensive urban residential schooling model in Baltimore, MD (Curto & Fryer, 2011).  In each case, the models in question involve resource intensive strategies, including substantially lengthening school days and years, providing small group (2 or 3 on 1) intensive tutoring, providing extensive community based wrap around services (Harlem Childrens' Zone) or providing student housing and residential support services (Baltimore). The broad conclusion across these studies is that charter schools or traditional public schools can produce dramatic improvements to student outcomes by implementing no excuses strategies and perhaps wrap around services, and that these strategies come at relatively modest marginal cost. Regarding the benefits of the most expensive alternative explored - residential schooling in Baltimore (at a reported $39,000 per pupil) - the authors conclude that no excuses strategies of extended day and year, and intensive tutoring are likely more cost effective. But, each of these studies suffers from poorly documented and often ill-conceived comparisons of costs and/or marginal expenditures.

Last week, I was talking to a couple planning to leave a D.C. charter school. They liked the school well enough. But the commute - from home, to school, to work - had reached two hours a day. As the couple waited to close on a house in Virginia, they knew they would miss the District. But they looked forward to walking to their neighborhood school.  I thought about this family while digging into the new $100,000 study of D.C. schools sponsored by the charitable arm of Wal-Mart. The study's big takeaway: There are not enough "top-performing" schools in working-class D.C. neighborhoods. This is not exactly news. But their solution - close some neighborhood and charter schools and replace them with more charter schools - makes no sense given the rest of the study's findings.

Let me start by pointing out that Mathematica Policy Research, in my view, is an exceptional research organization. They have good people. They do good work and have done much to inform public policy in what I believe are positive ways. That's why I found it so depressing when I started digging through the recent report on Charter CMOs - a report which as framed, was intended to explore the differences in effectiveness, practices and resources of charter schools operated by various Charter Management Organizations.

This paper examines the policy context of charter school adoption and implementation in Indianapolis -- the only city in the U.S. with independent mayoral authorizing authority. Our study identifies specific implications of this hybrid of mayoral control, including expanded civic capacity and innovation diffusion across Indianapolis area public school systems. This qualitative study utilizes over 30 in-depth interviews conducted with key stakeholders. Legislative, state, and school district documents and reports were analyzed for descriptive evidence of expanded civic capacity, school innovation, and charter/non-charter school competitive pressures. The case of Indianapolis reframes the mayoral role in education reform, and expands the institutional framework for charter school authorizing.

"Backing Governor Chris Christie and Commissioner Chris Cerf's unrelenting push for more "high-quality school options" in New Jersey, the Department of Education recently approved nine charter schools to open in September, bringing the total number of charter schools in New Jersey to 86. This move is part of a broader trend toward the marketization of education policy - the incorporation of market principles into the management and structure of public schools, as well as voucher programs to subsidize alternatives to public schools. These market principles include deregulation, competition, and the unqualified celebration of "choice," all of which are embodied in the charter school movement. Despite claims of greater efficiency, innovativeness, and responsiveness, however, the growing rhetoric around choice needs to be more closely scrutinized before we wholeheartedly jump on the charter school bandwagon."

Charter schools would expand and get more money under a plan by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration to be announced Monday, but some of the additional funding would have to come from local school districts. The proposal would increase per-pupil funding for charter schools from $9,400 to $12,000. Of that, $1,000 for the first time would be paid by the districts where those students live, according to sources who have been briefed on the plan. For districts like Bridgeport, which sends about 1,400 students to charter school, the cost would be $1.4 million annually.

For a short while yesterday - more than I would have liked to - I followed the circus of testimony and tweets about proposed education reform legislation in Connecticut. The reform legislation - SB 24 - includes the usual reformy elements of teacher tenure reform, ending seniority preferences, expanding and promoting charter schooling, etc. etc. etc. And the reformy circus had twitpics of of eager undergrads (SFER) & charter school students (as young as Kindergarten?) shipped in and carrying signs saying CHARTER=PUBLIC (despite a body of case law to the contrary, and repeated arguments, some lost in state courts [oh], by charter operators that they need not comply with open records/meetings laws or disclose employee contracts), and tweeting reformy platitudes and links to stuff they called research supporting the reformy platform (Much of it tweeted as "fact checking" by the ever-so-credible ConnCAN). Ignored in all of this theatre-of-the-absurd was any actual substantive, knowledgeable conversation about the state of public education in Connecticut, the nature of the CT achievement gap and the more likely causes of it, and other problems/failures of Connecticut education policy.

"While reasonable people can disagree about whether this is "privatization," the question remains as to whether the market mechanisms embodied within the charter model lead to more socially just outcomes.  After all, many might be willing to accept privatization if choice and competition produce more equitable and just opportunities, especially for disadvantaged children. However, an increasing consensus in research circles suggests that charter schools may exacerbate, rather than ameliorate, the chronic inequity in America's education system.  Despite its roots as an initiative to promote more equitable outcomes, multiple studies have linked charter programs with segregation. "

"My problem with the current false market scenario regarding TFA is its intersection with the false market for charter schools. Just as charter school expansion - demand - has become heavily dependent on manipulation of markets by policy makers, TFA expansion - demand - has become dependent on those major charter network operators who are dependent on charter market manipulation (forced closure of district schools). Put simply, this is not market based reform, nor should anyone pretend that market mechanisms (rather than policy preferences and market manipulation) are driving any of this."

"Municipal finance analysts at Moody's recently took a look at the impact of charter school growth on public finances, finding "while the vast majority of traditional public districts are managing through the rise of charter schools without a negative credit impact, a small but growing number face financial stress due to the movement of students to charters.""

"If you have heard the phrase "no excuses" charter schools but don't really know what they mean, here is an informative post about  them and the controversial philosophy under which they approach student discipline and achievement.  Joan Goodman, a professor in the Graduate School of Education University of Pennsylvania and director of the school's Teach For America program, explains her research on these charter schools to freelance journalist and public education advocate Jennifer Berkshire, who worked for six years editing a newspaper for the American Federation of Teachers in Massachusetts and who authors the EduShyster blog, where this Q * A originally appeared. Goodman is a former school psychologist whose article "Charter Management Organizations and the Regulated Environment: Is It Worth the Price?" appeared in the March 2013 issue of Educational Researcher."

A legislative oversight committee Friday ordered state auditors to review the finances and performances of the state's charter schools. State Sen. Ed Murray said recent state investigations launched at Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School in Baton Rouge and Abramson Science and Technology Charter School in New Orleans are only the latest issues raised about charter schools.

Duval County is adding five more charter schools this year, giving parents more options throughout the county, from Baymeadows to the Westside to Arlington. Now the county will have 18 charter schools, including an all-girls school and a charter that's converting from a private Christian school.

Florida school districts are flooded with applications for new charter schools, motivated by several new laws that make it easier to start traditional and virtual charters. Nearly 100 more new charter school applications have been filed for the 2012-13 school year than were filed at the same time last year -- a 38 percent increase, according to statistics from the Department of Education.

The U.S. Department of Education announced today charter school grants totaling $25 million to replicate and expand high-quality charter schools that have demonstrated success. Today's grants will serve nearly 45,000 students in 124 new and 3 expanded charter schools over the next five years.

Charter school expert Gary Miron, one of the foremost scholars on charter schools, testified before the Michigan Senate Education Committee. Dr. Miron has done extensive research on the impact of charter schools both in the United States and around the world.

Earlier in the week I wrote about Gary Miron's testimony before the House Education & Workforce Committee and the Michigan Senate Education Committee. In both statements he reiterated the lack of research to prove claims of charter school operators and his belief that charters today have drifted from their original design. I'm afraid that his testimony and his research have been lost in larger conversations about charter schools.  With so many unproven reports being published as facts, it is important to listen to people like Dr. Miron and others.  Critical voices don't have to be seen as proponents of the status quo.

Misinformed charter punditry doesn't help anyone. It doesn't help the public to make more informed decisions either about choices for their own children or about policy preferences more generally. It also doesn't help charter operators get their jobs done and it doesn't help those working in traditional public schools focus on things that really matter.  This post is in direct response to the irresponsible and unjustified statement below from a recent editorial in the NJ Star Ledger