Charters & Choice
Publications
August 27, 2010
2009-10 Ohio Report Card Analysis
Each year the Thomas B. Fordham Institute conducts an analysis of urban school performance in Ohio. Analysis of 2009-10 school year results will be updated here after the August 27 release of state data.
August 24, 2010
America's Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform: Attracting Entrepreneurs and Change Agents
This new study tackles a key question: Which of thirty major U.S. cities have cultivated a healthy environment for school reform to flourish (and which have not)? Nine reform-friendly locales surged to the front. Read on to learn more.
July 21, 2010
The State of State Standards--and the Common Core--in 2010
Our new study weighs current state education standards against the Common Core education standards. The findings? The Common Core standards are clearer and more rigorous than today's English language arts standards in 37 states and today's math standards in 39 states.
July 6, 2010
Ohio's Education Reform Challenges: Lessons from the Frontlines
Fordham has been both an advocate of choice and an authorizer of charter schools serving some of Ohio's neediest students. This book describes and analyzes our efforts, successes and failures, and what we think it means for others committed to school reform.
June 23, 2010
Common Education Standards: Tackling the Long-Term Questions
How should the "common core" state standards be governed? Who will "own" these standards (and related assessments) 20 years from now? To stir smart thinking about important aspects of these issues, the Fordham Institute invited knowledgeable experts to write background papers.
May 25, 2010
Needles in a Haystack: Lessons from Ohio's high-performing, high-need urban schools
Despite the overall dismal performance of schools serving Ohio's poor, urban youngsters, there are a handful of schools that buck these bleak trends and achieve significant results for their students. This report examines eight of these schools.
April 28, 2010
Charter School Autonomy: A Half-Broken Promise
The typical U.S. charter school lacks the autonomy it needs to succeed, once state, authorizer, and other impositions are considered. For some schools--in some states, with some authorizers--the picture is brighter but for many it's bleak. State-specific grades for charter autonomy range from A to F.
March 23, 2010
Review of the Draft K-12 Common Core Standards
The Fordham Institute's expert reviewers have analyzed the draft Common Core K-12 education standards (made public on March 10) according to rigorous criteria. Their analyses lead to a grade of A- for the draft mathematics standards and B for those in English language arts. Read on to find out more.
February 18, 2010
America's Private Public Schools
More than 1.7 million American children attend what we've dubbed "private public schools" -- public schools that serve virtually no poor students. In some metropolitan areas, as many as one in six public-school students -- and one in four white youngsters -- attends such schools, of which the U.S. has about 2,800.
December 10, 2009
Tracking and Detracking: High Achievers in Massachusetts Middle Schools
Brookings scholar Tom Loveless examines tracking and detracking in Massachusetts middle schools, focusing on changes that have occurred and the implications for high-achieving students. Among the findings: detracked schools have fewer advanced students in math than tracked schools and detracking is more popular in schools serving disadvantaged populations.
November 20, 2009
Seeking Quality in the Face of Adversity: 2008-09 Fordham Sponsorship Accountability Report
As a charter school sponsor (authorizer), Fordham submits an accountability report to the Ohio Department of Education at the end of November each year. The report includes profiles of each Fordham-sponsored school, as well as graphics comparing the achievement data of our schools, their home districts, and statewide averages. You'll also find pertinent information on Ohio charter school spending over the last decade, and in the introduction, a timely analysis of the political and legislative environment impacting Ohio charters in 2008-09 that explains why the title, "Seeking Quality in the Face of Adversity," is befitting.
October 8, 2009
Stars by Which to Navigate? Scanning National and International Education Standards in 2009
Expert reviewers appraise the Common Core drafts -- which outline college and career readiness standards in reading, writing, speaking and listening, and in math -- and also evaluate the reading/writing and math frameworks that undergird the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA). How strong are these well-known models?
September 8, 2009
From Schoolhouse to Courthouse
From Schoolhouse to Courthouse: The Judiciary's Role in American Education examines the role of the courts in modern American K-12 education. From race to speech, from religion to school funding, few aspects of education policy have escaped the courtroom. In this book, experts describe just what the impact of judicial involvement has been. Published jointly by Fordham and Brookings Institution Press.
August 27, 2009
International Lessons about National Standards
Whether the United States should embrace national standards and tests is perhaps today's hottest education issue. For guidance in addressing it, this report looks beyond our borders. How have other countries navigated these turbid waters? What can we learn from them? Expert analysts examined national standards and testing in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore and South Korea.
August 24, 2009
2008-09 Ohio Report Card Analysis
Each year the Thomas B. Fordham Institute conducts an analysis of urban school performance in Ohio. Read the findings for Ohio's Big 8 schools for the 2008-09 school year.
July 29, 2009
The Great Graduation-Rate Debate
This paper aims to promote a clearer understanding of the graduation-rate debate by distilling the policy developments and controversy surrounding the measurement of these rate. Why are there so many different ways to calculate graduation rates? How do these different rates account for the multiple pathways to graduation? What are the data sources used in the various dropout-rate calculations, and what are their pros and cons?
June 15, 2009
Losing Ohio's Future: Why college graduates flee the Buckeye State and what might be done about it
The media is awash with stories about Ohio's brain drain: in 2007, the Buckeye State saw 6,981 more residents between the ages of 25 and 34 leave the state than migrate into it. What's worse, the more education these young people have, the more likely they are to leave. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute seeks to shed light on this important problem--and explore solutions--with this study by the Farkas Duffet Research Group.
May 4, 2009
April 29, 2009
Growing Pains in the Advanced Placement Program: Do Tough Trade-Offs Lie Ahead?
Over the past five years, the number of students taking at least one Advanced Placement exam rose by more than half. This news is celebrated but is there a downside? To find out, Fordham commissioned the Farkas Duffett Research Group to survey AP teachers in the US. The AP program remains popular with its teachers. But there are signs that the move toward "open door" access to AP is starting to cause concern.
March 24, 2009
When Private Schools Take Public Dollars: What's the Place of Accountability in School Voucher Programs?
Voucher opponents often argue that it?s unfair to hold public schools accountable for results under the No Child Left Behind Act and various state rules while allowing private schools that participate in school voucher programs to receive taxpayer dollars without similar accountability. In pursuit of a reasonable middle ground, we sought the advice of twenty experts in the school-choice world. This paper presents their thoughts and opinions, as well as Fordham?s own ideas.
February 19, 2009
The Accountability Illusion
In this study of the No Child Left Behind Act system and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) rules for 28 states, we selected 36 real schools that vary by size, achievement, diversity, etc. and determined which ones would or would not make AYP when evaluated under each state's accountability rules. If a school that made AYP in Washington were relocated to Ohio, would it still make AYP?
February 17, 2009
Ohio at the Crossroads: School funding--more of the same or changing the model?
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's education plan calls for modernizing Ohio's K-12 education system, including the state's school-funding system, but the plan's so-called "evidence-based" approach would actually scuttle any modernizing efforts, argues a new study issued by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
December 18, 2008
An Open Letter to President Obama, Secretary Duncan and the 111th Congress
In this exciting, unique and challenging time, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute wants to congratulate President-Elect Obama and other new federal leaders. The federal government has a key role to play in creating a world-class education system in America but it's challenging to get that role right. This letter provides some guidance. Fordham experts review the current education policy landscape and its main players and offer their view of the ideal K-12 federal role. They also address the ten big policy battles looming on the horizon. The hope is that the letter will provide critical advice, insights and ideas for the new federal education leaders who are about to take on a big job.
November 19, 2008
Climbing to Quality 2007-2008 Fordham Sponsorship Accountability Report
This yearly report covers Fordham's sponsorship practices throughout the year as well as newsworthy events related to our sponsored charter schools. You can also find detailed reports on all of Fordham-sponsored schools. Each school report contains information on the school's academic performance, educational philosophy, and compliance for the 2007-2008 school year.
November 17, 2008
A Byte at the Apple: Rethinking Education Data for the Post-NCLB Era
In A Byte at the Apple, leaders and scholars map the landscape of education data providers and users and explore why what's supplied by the former often fails to meet the needs of the latter. Most important, it explores potential solutions--including a system where a "backpack" of achievement information accompanies every student from place to place.
October 2, 2008
The Red Tape Report: An Exploratory Study of the Regulatory Interference Faced by School Leaders in Five States
In public education today, individual schools are accountable?under the federal No Child Left Behind Act as well as myriad state and local policy regimens?for their students? achievement and other vital outcomes. Increasingly, school leaders find their own job tenure and compensation tied to those outcomes as well. But do they possess the authority they need to lead their schools to heightened performance? Numerous surveys (conducted by Public Agenda, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and others) suggest that many school leaders feel they do not. Thus an important public policy question arises: what factors help or hinder school leaders in exercising their authority?and in which areas?
September 15, 2008
Accelerating Student Learning in Ohio: Five Policy Recommendations for Strengthening Public Education in the Buckeye State
As Gov. Ted Strickland concludes his 12-city "Conversation on Education" tour to gather ideas for reforming public education in Ohio, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has put forth a report of five recommendations designed to keep improvements in the Buckeye State's public schools on track toward three critical goals: 1) maximizing the talents of every child; 2) producing graduates as good as any in the world; and 3) closing the persistent academic gaps that continue between rich and poor, and black and white and brown.
August 25, 2008
Education Olympics 2008: The Games in Review
This report has a simple aim: to present results from international assessments so readers can judge for themselves how American students stack up globally. It's intended to be a standalone supplement to our "Education Olympics" web event held between August 8th and August 22nd, 2008 (see edexcellence.net/edolympics). It shows how the U.S. has performed internationally in education in recent years, and it provides a glimpse of how education looks in several top-performing nations.
August 25, 2008
Ohio Value-Added Primer
Beginning in August 2008, Ohio's academic accountability system includes a value-added component that measures student academic progress in addition to achievement. Fordham created this short primer on value-added to help business people, lawmakers, policymakers, and others understand this powerful but complex tool.
August 15, 2008
Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism
The most exciting innovation in education policy in the last decade is the emergence of highly effective schools in our nation's inner cities, schools where disadvantaged teens make big gains in academic achievement. In this book, David Whitman takes readers inside six of these secondary schools and reveals the secret to their success: paternalism.
June 18, 2008
High-Achieving Students in the Era of No Child Left Behind
This publication reports the results of the first two (of five) studies of a multifaceted research investigation of the state of high-achieving students in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) era. Part I examines achievement trends for high-achieving students since the early 1990s; Part II reports on teachers' own views of how schools are serving high-achieving pupils in the NCLB era.
April 10, 2008
Who Will Save America's Urban Catholic Schools?
America's urban Catholic schools are in crisis. Over 1,300 of them have shut down since 1990, mostly in our cities. As a result, some 300,000 students have been displaced--double the number affected by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. This report, which includes a comprehensive survey of the attitudes of U.S. Catholics and the broader public towards inner-city Catholic schools, examines this crisis and offers several suggestions for arresting and perhaps reversing this trend in the interests of better education.
March 12, 2008
Fund The Child: Bringing Equity, Autonomy, and Portability to Ohio School Finance
Ohio can boast of praiseworthy gains over the past decade in making school funding more equitable across districts, but there is more work to be done. To mitigate the school-finance inequities that remain within districts and gear school funding toward the realities of student mobility, school choice and effective school-based management, this report recommends that Ohio embrace Weighted Student Funding (WSF), which allocates resources based on the needs of individual students and by sending dollars directly to schools rather than lodging most spending decisions at the district level.
March 5, 2008
Too Good to Last: The True Story of Reading First
Too Good to Last: The True Story of Reading First is an in-depth and alarming study of Reading First's betrayal. Under the leadership of White House domestic policy chief Margaret Spellings and with support from Congress, Reading First was to provide funding to primary-reading programs that were based on scientific research. Backlash and brouhaha followed. Aggrieved whole-language program proprietors complained bitterly that their wares couldn't be purchased with Reading First funds. Then the administration turned its back on Reading First, allowing the program to be gutted and starved of funding.
February 14, 2008
The Leadership Limbo
In the era of No Child Left Behind, principals are increasingly held accountable for student performance. But are teacher labor agreements giving them enough flexibility to manage effectively? The Leadership Limbo: Teacher Labor Agreements in America's Fifty Largest School Districts, answers this question and others.
November 28, 2007
2007 Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Sponsorship Accountability Report
For information on Fordham's unique role as a charter school sponsor in Ohio, there's no better source than The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Sponsorship Accountability Report 2006-07. The report offers a comprehensive account of Fordham's sponsorship policies and practices-as well as individual profiles of all Fordham-sponsored schools. Included in the profiles are descriptions of each school's educational program, school philosophy, and overall academic performance.
November 13, 2007
Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate: Do They Deserve Gold Star Status?
This report examines whether the reputation the?Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs have for academic excellence is truly deserved. Our expert reviewers looked at the four AP and IB courses most similar to the core content areas in American high schools--English, history, math, and science--and found that, in general, the courses do warrant praise. In a few cases, they deserve gold stars.
October 4, 2007
The Proficiency Illusion
NCLB allows each state to define proficiency as it sees fit and design its own tests. This study compares state tests to benchmarks laid out by the Northwest Evaluation Association to evaluate proficiency cut scores for assessments in twenty-six states. The findings suggest that the tests states use to measure academic progress and student proficiency under NCLB are creating a false impression of success, especially in reading and especially in the early grades.
September 18, 2007
Alternative Certification Isn't Alternative
At first glance, the explosive growth of "alternative" teacher certification--which is supposed to allow able individuals to teach in public schools without first passing through a college of education--appears to be one of the great success stories of modern education reform. But, as this report reveals, alternative certification programs have so far failed to provide a real alternative to traditional education schools. In fact, they represent a significant setback for education reform advocates.
July 11, 2007
Beyond the Basics: Achieving a Liberal Education for All Children
America's true competitive edge over the long haul is not its technical prowess but its creativity, its imagination, its inventiveness. And those attributes are best inculcated not by skill-drill or "STEM" but through liberal arts and sciences, liberally defined. Thus argues this new Fordham volume, edited by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Diane Ravitch, which also explores what policymakers and educators at all levels can to do sustain liberal learning and sketches an unlovely future if we fail.
June 7, 2007
Golden Peaks and Perilous Cliffs: Rethinking Ohio's Teacher Pension System
Despite its long history and prodigious size, all is not well with Ohio's teacher pension system. In this Fordham Institute report, nationally renowned economists Robert Costrell and Mike Podgursky illuminate some of the serious challenges facing STRS.
May 24, 2007
Ohioans' Views on Education 2007
This survey covers such topics as school quality and funding, academic standards, school reforms, proposals to improve how the public schools are run, teacher quality, charter schools and school vouchers. It follows up a survey conducted in 2005 and many of the questions are repeated, allowing us to gauge whether attitudes have shifted over time.
April 11, 2007
The Autonomy Gap
Though most public school principals believe that effective leadership of their schools requires authority over personnel decisions (e.g., staff selection, deployment, dismissal), they report having little such authority in practice. Based on a series of interviews with a small sample of district and charter-school principals, the report shows that most district principals encounter a sizable gap between the extent and kinds of authority that leaders need to be effective and the authority that they actually have.
January 29, 2007
Whole-Language High Jinks
If you thought whole-language reading instruction had been relegated to the scrap heap of history, think again. Many such programs (proven to be ineffective) are still around, but they're hiding behind phrases like "balanced literacy" in order to win contracts from school districts and avoid public scrutiny. Louisa Moats calls them out in Fordham's new report, Whole-Language High Jinks.
January 4, 2007
Crystal Apple: Education Insiders' Predictions for No Child Left Behind's Reauthorization
January 8, 2007, was the fifth birthday of the No Child Left Behind Act. This isn't just another milestone to be celebrated (or mourned). The law is now due for an update from Congress. But will NCLB be reauthorized on schedule? What changes are likely? No one knows for sure, but the ubiquitous "Washington insiders" might be in a better position than others to cast prognostications. While not a "representative sample" of thousands, their inside knowledge adds valuable insight.
November 30, 2006
2006 Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Sponsorship Accountability Report
For information on Fordham's unique role as a charter school sponsor in Ohio, there's no better source than The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Sponsorship Accountability Report 2005-06. The report offers a comprehensive account of Fordham's sponsorship policies and practices-as well as individual profiles of all Fordham-sponsored schools. Included in the profiles are descriptions of each school's educational program, school philosophy, and overall academic performance based on state achievement data.
November 1, 2006
The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?
The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children? appraises each state according to thirty indicators across three major categories: student achievement for low-income, African-American, and Hispanic students; achievement trends for these same groups over the last 10-15 years; and the state's track record in implementing bold education reforms. It finds that just eight states can claim even moderate success over the past 15 years at boosting the percentage of their poor or minority students who are at or above proficient in reading, math or science.
October 11, 2006
Turning the Corner to Quality
At the request of Ohio's top government and education leaders, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, National Association of Charter School Authorizers, and National Alliance for Public Charter Schools have issued a report seeking to strengthen the state's charter school program. Among its 17 recommendations are calls for closing low-performing charter schools while also helping more high-performance schools to open and succeed in Ohio.
August 29, 2006
The State of State Standards 2006
Two-thirds of schoolchildren in America attend class in states with mediocre (or worse) expectations for what their students should learn. That's just one of the findings of Fordham's The State of State Standards 2006, which evaluates state academic standards. The average state grade is a "C-minus"--the same as six years earlier, even though most states revised their standards since 2000.
August 29, 2006
To Dream the Impossible Dream: Four Approaches to National Standards and Tests for America's Schools
Education policy leaders from across the political spectrum flesh out and evaluate?several forms that national standards and testing could take.
Featured Publications
August 24, 2010
America's Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform: Attracting Entrepreneurs and Change Agents
This new study tackles a key question: Which of thirty major U.S. cities have cultivated a healthy environment for school reform to flourish (and which have not)? Nine reform-friendly locales surged to the front. Read on to learn more.
July 6, 2010
Ohio's Education Reform Challenges: Lessons from the Frontlines
Fordham has been both an advocate of choice and an authorizer of charter schools serving some of Ohio's neediest students. This book describes and analyzes our efforts, successes and failures, and what we think it means for others committed to school reform.
May 25, 2010
Needles in a Haystack: Lessons from Ohio's high-performing, high-need urban schools
Despite the overall dismal performance of schools serving Ohio's poor, urban youngsters, there are a handful of schools that buck these bleak trends and achieve significant results for their students. This report examines eight of these schools.
February 18, 2010
America's Private Public Schools
More than 1.7 million American children attend what we've dubbed "private public schools" -- public schools that serve virtually no poor students. In some metropolitan areas, as many as one in six public-school students -- and one in four white youngsters -- attends such schools, of which the U.S. has about 2,800.
November 20, 2009
Seeking Quality in the Face of Adversity: 2008-09 Fordham Sponsorship Accountability Report
As a charter school sponsor (authorizer), Fordham submits an accountability report to the Ohio Department of Education at the end of November each year. The report includes profiles of each Fordham-sponsored school, as well as graphics comparing the achievement data of our schools, their home districts, and statewide averages. You'll also find pertinent information on Ohio charter school spending over the last decade, and in the introduction, a timely analysis of the political and legislative environment impacting Ohio charters in 2008-09 that explains why the title, "Seeking Quality in the Face of Adversity," is befitting.
More Publications on Charters & Choice
Recent Gadfly Articles
Heads Spin in Albany
September 2, 2010 Edition, Flypaper's Finest (The best from Flypaper, Fordham's blog)
Read the rest on Flypaper.
Video: Think Tank + Sponsoring Charter Schools = Harder than it Looks
September 2, 2010 Edition, Gadfly Studios
Watch last week’s frank discussion about the lessons Fordham has learned as a charter school sponsor in Ohio, culled from our new book, Ohio’s Education Reform Challenges: Lessons ... More
Think Tank + Sponsoring Charter Schools = Harder Than It Looks
August 25, 2010 Edition, Announcements
Don’t miss another vigorous, frank, and eye-opening discussion of Fordham’s own experience authorizing charter schools in Ohio—and how that compares to authorizing elsewhere. ... More
Charter schools bracing for funding cuts, still seeking parity
August 11, 2010 Edition, Headliner
Ohio charter schools could face funding cuts of 10 percent, 15 percent, or more in the next biennial budget. But the state budget crisis also will give charters an opportunity to talk about ... More
Putting charter theories to the test: an examination of student mobility in Dayton
August 11, 2010 Edition, News and Analysis
Fordham’s hometown of Dayton is famous not only for the Wright Brothers but also for being a school choice mecca. Annually since 2006, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools ... More
More Education Gadfly Articles on Charters & Choice
Featured Links & Resources
Alexis de Tocqueville Institute
The Institute promotes freedom in the U.S. and abroad following the principles espoused by its namesake. It supports market-based reforms for the U.S. education system and provides resources on issues of school choice.
Center on Reinventing Public Education
Located at the University of Washington and headed by Paul Hill, its research focuses on charter schools, school contracting, choice, and school system decentralization.
Education Policy Institute
Educational research and policy analysis from a public choice and pro-market perspective.
Black Alliance for Educational Options
BAEO is a national organization whose mission is to actively support parental choice to empower families and increase educational opportunities for Black children.
KIPP: Knowledge is Power Program
KIPP is a network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory public schools in under-resourced communities throughout the United States. One of the premier school programs in the country.