A Think Tank Takes the Plunge

Long a font of opinions about what ails U.S. schools, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation is getting a grounding in reality since becoming the authorizer of a mixed bag of charter schools.

Dayton, Ohio

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has long had a lot to say about education in the United States—what’s wrong with it and how to fix it.

But now, the outspoken Washington think tank isn’t just talking anymore. It’s parachuted down from the policy stratosphere into the thick of K-12 schooling, taking responsibility for overseeing a batch of charter schools in southwest Ohio.

The nine schools serve some 2,700 students, mostly from low-income and minority families. They run the gamut from two charters operated by the for-profit Edison Schools Inc. to a school started...