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This digital document is an article from Phi Delta Kappan, published by Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. on May 1, 1999. The length of the article is 2180 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Nancy Zollers and Arun Ramanathan December 1998 article on special education in Massachusetts charter schools shows that they relied on uncorroborated anecdotes in their study. For-profit-managed charter schools were claimed to serve fewer special education students who have less demanding needs that district school students. Other claims are discussed. Responses from Zollers and Ranamanathan are included.

Citation Details
Title: Gutter-Level Standards.(charter schools)
Publication: Phi Delta Kappan (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 1999
Publisher: Phi Delta Kappa, Inc.
Volume: 80Issue: 9Page: 719(1)

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Chapters: Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards, Akimel A-Al, Arizona Charter Schools Association, Arizona Department of Education. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 17. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) is a standardized test administered by the state of Arizona. It is Arizona's implementation of Outcome-based education. All students in grades 3 through 8 and 10 are required to take the AIMS test. High school students take the tests for the first time in the spring of their sophomore year. To graduate, a student must meet the standard in all four categories of the test, which include Math, Reading and Writing and Science. If a student doesn't pass any one of the four tests then he/she can retake the test(s) in the fall or spring of their junior and senior year (5 tries altogether). Also if a high school student is from out of state he or she is not granted augmentation if they do not pass. According to a comparison of standardized tests, Arizona is second-to-last in the number of passing students among the fifty U.S. states. A cumulative score of at least 500 on each section denotes a passing performance. The more commonly recognized scores are on a scale of 1-4. The performance ranges on the AIMS are "falls far below the standard," (fail - score of 1) "approaches the standard," (fail - score of 2) "meets the standard," (pass - score of 3) and "exceeds the standard." (pass - score of 4) The Goldwater Institute noted that the state has lowered the passing bar or made content easier every year since 1999, with failure rates falling from about 60 percent in 2002 to 2004 to 30 percent in 2005. This defeats one of the main features of a criterion based test, the use of a fixed, unmoving standard that can be compared across years. Addi...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1796019 ... Read more

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This text is the result of the first national-scale study of charter school accountability. The authors researched 150 schools and 60 authorizing agencies in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Michigan. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Education Next, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2005. The length of the article is 4124 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Identity crisis: can charter schools survive accountability?(No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, forecasts of educational standards)
Publication: Education Next (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 5Issue: 3Page: 55(7)

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This digital document is an article from District Administration, published by Professional Media Group LLC on September 1, 2003. The length of the article is 422 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Golden state shines on charters.(Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies)(California's charter schools)
Author: Steven Scarpa
Publication: District Administration (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2003
Publisher: Professional Media Group LLC
Volume: 39Issue: 9Page: 14(1)

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This digital document is an article from Education, published by Project Innovation (Alabama) on September 22, 2001. The length of the article is 5370 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: An evaluation of charter school effectiveness.
Author: Qiuyun Lin
Publication: Education (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2001
Publisher: Project Innovation (Alabama)
Volume: 122Issue: 1Page: 166(11)

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This digital document is an article from Phi Delta Kappan, published by Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 3779 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Charter School Authorizing: Policy Implications from a National Study.
Author: Louann Bierlein Palmer
Publication: Phi Delta Kappan (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Phi Delta Kappa, Inc.
Volume: 86Issue: 5Page: 352

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This digital document is an article from Policy Review, published by Hoover Institution Press on September 22, 1995. The length of the article is 5005 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: The reinvent education movement emphasizes decentralized school management and innovations such as charter schools and vouchers, but its success will depend on standards and accountability. Charter schools fail due to local board control, educational bureaucracy, and lack of teacher support. Voucher programs in Milwaukee and Cleveland may be the beginning of a national school choice movement. Private contractors, such as Educational Alternatives Inc, can manage public schools. Schools' governance structures are changing at the state level, but teacher unions often impede educational reforms.

Citation Details
Title: Magna charter? A report card on school reform in 1995.
Author: Chester E., Jr. Finn
Publication: Policy Review (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1995
Publisher: Hoover Institution Press
Issue: n74Page: p41(6)

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This digital document is an article from Canada and the World Backgrounder, published by Taylor Publishing Consultants Ltd. on December 1, 1998. The length of the article is 2203 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Search for Quality.(educational standards in Canada) (includes related articles)
Publication: Canada and the World Backgrounder (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 1998
Publisher: Taylor Publishing Consultants Ltd.
Volume: 64Issue: 3Page: 10(1)

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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Education, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 15572 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.This uniquely interdisciplinary resource covers legal, sociological, psychological, historical, and economic aspects of crime and justice worldwide. Entries cover civil and criminal issues, from domestic violence to terrorism. Entries cite pertinent legal cases as well as publications for further information. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Great companion book to the documentary
Very informative book on the state of education and amazing groups who are making a difference. Lots of good fact based data. Very motivating to join in making a difference

Just complaining!
As a teacher, I agree with much of what this book states. However I was disappointed that they didn't make any suggestions for fixing the problems. Really, did we need yet another finger pointed at the system saying it is bad? We really need solutions.I walked away more depressed about my job.

EDUCATION IN CRISES
I am educator; need I say more. Our children are suffering at the hands of SOME not all educators. Our children are suffering at the hands of SOME not all school Districts. Our children are suffering at the hands of SOME not all parents who choose not to get involveds.

There are zillions of educators that are fighting and trying to champion children's educational rights -- AS THE EDUCATIONAL ACT STATES IT MUST BE CHAMPIONED --all over this beautiful Nation; and then there are the "few" teachers -- I do not refer to them as educators -- that are there (in the classroom), teaching your child for the paycheck.

This book will help weed these teachers out; this book will make zillions more sit up and take notice - mark my words.

This book is a must read - for educators sand also non educators - even children.

Children Come First
Let me start by stating what this book is not, and then devote the rest of my review to what this companion book (to the recently released documentary film of the same title) is.Although the book contains some criticism of teacher unions, it is not a biased bashing of teachers.One of the book's chapters is written by Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers.Two other chapters were written by Davis Guggenheim and Lesley Chilcott, the director and producer, respectively, of the film documentary.(Guggenheim previously directed Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," so I wouldn't call him an anti-union fanatic.)Additionally, a chapter is written by Bill and Melinda Gates, and others are written by a Stanford professor (who tried to teach me economics some 40 years ago), a leading education reporter, and Michelle Rhee, the reformer chancellor (at the time of this writing) of Washington D.C. public schools.There is a balance of viewpoints, as you might imagine.The book's editor, Karl Weber, and the various chapter authors make the point that there is much work to be done to improve our education system.Basically, they report and you get to decide.

This companion book begins by stating the case that we're all too familiar with--U.S. public education performance isn't what we'd like it to be.For example, among 30 developed countries, U.S. students rank 25th in math and 21st in science.High school graduation rates for minorities are barely 60%.(Some argue that access to a quality education may be the biggest civil rights issue of our time.)The majority of prison inmates are high school dropouts.(It costs a lot more to imprison someone for a year than to educate a student for the same time.)The average high school graduate will earn very significantly less than the average college graduate over a lifetime.You likely know all these rather depressing facts, so I'll move on.

"Waiting for `Superman'" describes (separately) the situations of five students striving (and waiting) to get a quality education, and each of their stories is followed by contributing chapters by the individuals I mentioned earlier.From different perspectives, the children's stories are fascinating, hopeful and heartbreaking.

So what can interested citizens do?Near the end of this fast-reading book there are a dozen or so pages devoted to how parents, students, educators and businesspeople can all help advance the cause of quality education.Further, for those who want to involve themselves further, there are over 30 pages of listings of web sites and organizations devoted to children, schools and progress in education.

In short, the issue at the heart of this book (and the movie) is vital to the success of our children and our country.(By the way, the movie premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and took home the Best U.S. Documentary Audience Award.)For those who want to understand the education situation better and perhaps make some contribution to improving education for all children, this book is a good first step.

A Compelling Call to Action
I gave this guidebook 4-Stars. The guidebook (companion to the documentary film) is clearly written and uses stories that illustrate the need for improving learning and teaching in schools and communities today. Additionally, a variety of stakeholders are interviewed such as students and parents, selected researchers/practitioners and leaders from the field of education, and executives from private foundations. In terms of the book's usefulness and ideas for practical application, it offers a number of ways that citizens might choose to support education within their local communities.

Education is a vast and complex field. Therefore, obviously this book does not include some of the key areas of research that hold promise for improving student learning, nor is it a simple one solution step-by-step guide for what to do to improve teaching and learning in America's schools. However, the text achieves its goal as 'an inspiring call for reform' as stated in the product description.

Hopefully this book will serve as an urgent call for all Americans to focus on creating school systems where all students can reach their true potential. Students arrive at school full of potential, but with a broad range of readiness for learning at school. For example, some arrive one to two years ahead of grade level in reading and some arrive one or two years behind.Therefore, the school system needs to accurately assess where students are academically as they enter the system. Then the system must ensure that students receive the intensity of high quality instruction needed to get to grade level with their peers. The system also needs to ensure that teachers get the high quality education, training, mentoring, and support they need to develop the knowledge and skills to teach students today.A key to teacher success is to be able to align instruction with the growing research base on how students learn.

There are many passionate teachers in classrooms across America in all types of schools. However, few get the support they need. For example, often, new teachers who enter the profession leave teaching due to lack of such support. In fact, some studies indicate 30 -50% leave in the first few years. Often these teachers would stay if they had the support to create learning opportunities for students, because seeing their students learn is what keeps good teachers motivated to stay in the field.

We hope this book is a catalyst for more Americans to explore ways in which they can help school systems transform into places where every student has the opportunity to reach their true potential. Parent and community involvement is critically important as students spend 80-90% of time in the home and community (outside of school) prior to the end of their high school years.It is a time for communities and schools to create a system of education that works for all students. Schools cannot do it by themselves.

Donna Wilson, Ph.D. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Phi Delta Kappan, published by Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. on January 1, 2003. The length of the article is 3994 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Lessons About School Choice From Minnesota: Promise and Challenges.
Author: Joe Nathan
Publication: Phi Delta Kappan (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2003
Publisher: Phi Delta Kappa, Inc.
Volume: 84Issue: 5Page: 350

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This digital document is an article from Reason, published by Reason Foundation on August 1, 2010. The length of the article is 3660 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Teachers unions vs. online education: kids live on the Internet. Why aren't they learning online too?(Essay)
Author: Katherine Mangu-Ward
Publication: Reason (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2010
Publisher: Reason Foundation
Volume: 42Issue: 4Page: 44(7)

Article Type: Essay

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