"Imparting Wisdom: HBCU Lessons for K-12 Education" details historically black colleges and universities' (HBCUs) longstanding efforts to provide quality educational experiences for their students and how their success may be translated in K-12 schools. This brief uplifts research-based HBCU best practices, practical recommendations and…

Two seemingly different threads are in play on the issue of class size. The first is manifested in media reports that tell readers that class sizes are rising to concerning levels. The second thread appears in the work of some researchers and education leaders and suggests that repurposing class-size reduction funds to pay for other reforms may…

Policy Matters Ohio looked at schools rated the highest over a two-year period in each of Ohio's eight largest urban districts. State, school, and district data were used to examine schools--district-run and charter--that were rated Excellent or higher for either the 2010-11 or the 2011-12 school year or both. The number of schools examined ranged…

Superficially, the Brooklyn Generation School, in the Flatbush area, looks a lot like the other six small public high schools that share space in this tall building, the former South Shore High School. What's noticeably different about it, though, is the strength of the relationships among staff members. Teachers can be seen running across the…

Discusses alternative-education programs and describes the SKILL (Student Knowledge in Living and Learning) Program that offers high school students small classes with individualized instruction. Describes public-education alternative schools as well as private, religious, and other types of alternative schools, and five sidebars offer other…

Develops a political economy framework for mapping and interpreting the competing purposes of schooling by examining five paradoxes in national policy debates addressing class size in public elementary schools. The framework highlights answers to the question: What kind of an economic good is education? (education as a service industry, producer…

Low achievement and high dropout rates among poor and minority students continue to plague U.S. society. While much attention over the past quarter century has focused on reforming the schools these students attend, little or no progress has been made in actually closing the achievement gaps or reducing the number of dropouts. Why? Aren't…