Over the past three decades, reformers have championed approaches to improving schools that have included state takeovers, school closures, and firing teachers. Despite the prevalence of these policies, these reform efforts have failed to produce strong systems of public education. This article examines Union City schools in New Jersey (USA), a…

Across the country, urban school districts are moving beyond industrial-era systems by creating "innovation" or "partnership" schools that have the freedom to reinvent the way they educate students. The Progressive Policy Institute released a how-to guide for legislators, district leaders, and advocates who want to create more…

Released on the 25th anniversary of the opening of the first charter schools, David Osborne's "Reinventing America's Schools" explores the new paradigm of public education that is emerging to fit the realities of the 21st century. Osborne's new book offers a bracing survey of the most dramatic improvements taking place in urban education…

Across the United States, a movement to create a new kind of public school--"autonomous district schools"--is giving districts the freedoms charter schools receive. Like charter schools, autonomous district schools are freed from innovation-inhibiting state and district policies, allowing talented educators to make academic and…

California's alternative education options for youth vulnerable to dropping out of school have been established at different historical points and for different student age and target populations. For purposes of this brief, "alternative school" is defined as belonging to one of six legislatively authorized types of public (non-charter)…

Restrictions on collective bargaining are spreading. But while reformers are right to question current labor practices in education, they're wrong to believe that bargaining prohibitions will solve the problems. A smarter approach would begin by putting down the sledgehammer wielded in Wisconsin and picking up a scalpel by pushing for laws aimed…

Persistently low-achieving public schools around the country have received $5.8 billion from the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, in addition to districts and state funds, and other supplementary federal funds. Despite all of these sources of funding, most of the schools receiving them have failed to make a dramatic difference in…

Since Congress enacted the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965, the federal government has emphasized states' shared responsibility for improving student achievement. When Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind Act, it called upon states to provide technical support to…

Defends New Jersey's school takeover law as the final step of a monitoring process designed to ensure the health of local schools. Most of New Jersey's 583 school systems have achieved state accreditation, and many of the 16 that haven't will be certified within the year. An inset describes the takeover process. (MLH)

An analysis of New Jersey's correctional school district identified a number of organizational barriers to the administration of prison education programs. These included (1) the priority of the custodial function, (2) the school district's lack of autonomy, and (3) the marginality of correctional education within the state department of education…

It is proposed that New Jersey assume approximately 70 percent of the cost of its public schools. Several other proposals are presented, all a radical departure from current school funding practices. (BW)

This paper, written from the perspective of the child advocacy community, acknowledges the importance of the business community in the political process. The paper profiles the contrast between two New Jerseys, one of prosperity, the other struggling under excruciating poverty. The economic boom of the 1980s broadened the gap between wealthy…

Describes the circumstances that prompted the state commissioner of education to appoint a "monitor general" to supervise the actions of the Trenton school board. (IRT)

The former state-appointed superintendent of the Paterson District in New Jersey states that, according to law, in the fifth year after a takeover, anyone may run for any vacant seat on the board. Argues that the state should have some type of permanent oversight responsibility when the district is returned to local control. A sidebar reflects a…

Traces the development of state-level education agencies in New Jersey from the nineteenth century to the present. (SJL)