In 2008, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) launched a differentiated accountability pilot to allow states to distinguish between those schools identified for improvement in need of substantial help and those closer to meeting achievement goals. In July 2008 and January 2009, the Department approved waivers to give nine states the…

As the mixed achievements of charter schools come under more intense political inspection, the conceptual underpinnings of current charter school reform remain largely unexamined. This article focuses on one moral-political concept centrally related to school reform and policy, the concept of justice. Using examples from the state of Ohio, the…

When 16 finalists come to Washington next week to make their final pitches in the $4 billion Race to the Top competition, most can expect to go home empty-handed. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in announcing the finalists last week, said that no more than $2 billion will be divided among "very few winners" when the awards are…

Collaborations popping up across the country between charter and traditional public schools show promise that charter schools could fulfill their original purpose of becoming research-and-development hothouses for public education, champions of charters say. But both supporters and skeptics of charter schools agree that so far the cooperative…

That advisories in secondary schools are fairly pervasive around the country may be one of the great unintended consequences of the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) reform effort. While no CES Common Principle explicitly states that advisories should exist in schools, as Coalition Schools evolved, advisories became one of the logical ways for…

This report synthesizes findings from CEP's (Center on Education Policy's) research on how the No Child Left Behind Act's school restructuring requirements are being implemented in Michigan, California, Maryland, Ohio, and Georgia. Document reviews and interviews with state officials were conducted in the five states, and case study research was…

Expanded learning opportunities (ELOs) support state education goals by providing safe, structured learning environments for students outside the regular school day. ELOs include after-school and summer learning programs, as well as before-school, evening, and weekend programs. Although research demonstrates that high-quality expanded learning…

This report synthesizes findings from five years of state-level research and local case studies of school restructuring by the Center on Education Policy (CEP). The research reported here began in Michigan in the summer and fall of 2004 and gradually expanded to include five additional states--California, Georgia, Maryland, New York, and Ohio--as…

A Washington research group is raising questions about the wisdom of the U.S. Department of Education's favored strategies for turning around the lowest-performing schools with stimulus funding, saying that its research shows that similar federal approaches to school restructuring have not been effective. The questions raised by the new study were…

The Common Principles, originally developed and applied to high schools, guide schools to evaluate what is happening and strive, through reflection and common understanding, to seek improvement. What distinguishes the application of the Common Principles in an elementary school? And what makes a Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) elementary…

The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001 brought new urgency to the task of turning around low-performing schools. While many schools have been identified as needing improvement under NCLB, only a small percentage have failed to make progress for long enough--six years--to be subject to restructuring, the most serious consequence…

In March 2008, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) launched a competition for states to submit proposals to participate in a Differentiated Accountability Pilot program. The stated aim of the pilots was to allow participating states "to vary the intensity and type of interventions to match the academic reasons that led to a school's…

Today's career and tech programs blur the lines between college and career prep, undoing traditional high school tracking. The technology used in jobs now requires higher-level skills of those responsible for the work than ever before, and due to this fact and to changes in the way these programs are implemented, enrollment in the area of career…

America's urban high schools are having trouble making sophomores, resulting in freshmen classes bulging with students repeating a grade. Research shows that these students are at high risk of failure and dropout. Urban districts have begun to respond to the notable "freshmen bulge" through school restructuring. This mixed-methods study…

This document presents five case studies of Ohio schools in order to discuss ongoing systemic reform in Ohio. Papers include: (1) "Steele Middle School: 'The Best Education for the Best Is the Best Education for All'" (Jane Butler Kahle, Kathryn Scantlebury, Arta Damnjanovic, and Mary Kay Kelly); (2) "Urban Middle School: 'How Much…