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There's no mystery or proprietary secret among academics or statisticians and data geeks as to how to construct simple comparisons of school demographics using available data.  It's really not that hard. It doesn't require bold assumptions, nor does it require complex statistical models. Sometimes, all that's needed to shed light on a situation is a simple descriptive summary of the relevant data.  Below is a "how to" (albeit sketchy) with links to data for doing your own exploring of charter and traditional public school demographics, by grade level and location.

I've written before about KIPP attrition in response to reports that had been released studying it.  When reports conclude that KIPP does not have high attrition, they tout it on their websites.  When reports concluded that they do have high attrition, KIPP responds with a rebuttal. The problem with most of these reports is that the data they give us has already been analyzed and then turned into percentages, which are only relative measures.  This is why I finally got around to navigating the New York START data system to find the actual raw data for myself which I could then compare to KIPPs annual report card that they release.

Dozens of schools across the city and state were flagged in a study of 2009 state standardized test scores that sought to use statistical analysis to ferret out possible examples of cheating on the PSSA exam.

In recent post, I discussed the questionable value of student survey data to inform teacher evaluation models. Not only is there little research support for such surveys, but the very framing of the idea often reflects faulty reasoning.

THE SCHOOL privatization movement took an ominous new step in June with the creation of the first for-profit real estate investment fund aimed at the construction of charter schools.

Jonah Edelman as Machiavelli in Illinois.

"As controversial pension and benefit legislation heads for final passage in the New Jersey Legislature, retirees face crippling cuts to their pensions in their remaining years, according to an NJEA study."

On Monday's Fresh Air, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Martha Woodall details her ongoing investigation into Philadelphia's charter school system, where 19 of the 74 charter schools operating in the city are under investigation for fraud, financial mismanagement and conflicts of interest.

The way we provide professional learning experiences and support our nation's teachers is a running source of debate and, unfortunately, disappointment. Policymakers grumble at the costs. Teachers complain they don't get what they need while parents and the public wait for our schools to get it right for our students.

This is the latest in a back-and-forth between Joel Klein, former New York City Schools chancellor, and Aaron Pallas, a Teachers College professor and statistician.

Brooks criticizes Ravitch and lauds the success of charters

"N.E.A. is and always will be opposed to high-stakes, test-driven evaluations," said Becky Pringle, the secretary-treasurer of the union, addressing the banner-strung convention hall filled with the 8,200-member assembly that votes on union policy.

Governor Chris Christie, who just recently signed the Pension and Health Care Reform Bill that would cost 500,000 state workers thousands of additional dollars of out of pocket expenses each year, just cut almost $1 billion from the budget proposal handed to him by Democratic lawmakers.  This all occurred Thursday when Christie used his line-item veto power to slash funding for programs that help New Jersey's poorest while vetoing another millionaires tax bill. 

A Failing School? Not to These Students

He believes, for example, that children in Camden and other cities should be taken out of public schools - "the equivalent of juvenile prison." "We have to change the environment they're in, and put them in a private, parochial, or charter environment," says Norcross. Groups he controls are likely soon to open charter schools in Camden, including one on land now owned by the state's School Development Authority and set aside for a public school: It's good to be a pal of the governor.

I recently examined the contracts being bid out by DOE for new "local assessments" that they intend to use to evaluate teacher performance.  Though back in May, this plan was reported in NY Times as "more than a dozen new standardized tests," it really is far more.