School Choice & Charters Blog

Charters & Choice

Charter schools. School Vouchers. Private Schools. Home Schooling. Staff Writer Arianna Prothero examined the implications of school choice for students, families, and education. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: School Choice & Charters, charter schools.

School & District Management Charter Schools More Likely to Ignore Special Education Applicants, Study Finds
Charters were significantly less likely to respond to inquiries that said a child had severe disabilities. But all schools were less likely to respond to a parent with a Hispanic sounding name.
Arianna Prothero, December 20, 2018
3 min read
Federal Can A Private School Receiving Voucher Money Ban a Student Over Dreadlocks?
The ACLU and NAACP have filed formal civil rights complaints against the school for its dress code policies, another case that highlights the blurring lines in public oversight for private schools that accept state aid in the form of vouchers.
Arianna Prothero, November 30, 2018
5 min read
School & District Management Academics or Safety? How Website Design Can Influence Parents' School Choices
Parents often turn to school finder or school shopping websites when choosing a school for their child. How much can the layout and design of a website affect the choices parents make? Quite a bit, according to a working paper from Mathematica Policy Research.
Arianna Prothero, November 19, 2018
3 min read
School Choice & Charters Chicago Charter School Founder Retires Amid Allegations of Inappropriate Behavior
Noble Charter Schools CEO and founder is leaving the network over a "pattern of inappropriate behavior" toward young women connected with the network.
Arianna Prothero, November 14, 2018
2 min read
School Choice & Charters Expansion of School Vouchers Gets Trounced in Arizona
Proposition 305 had become one of the most contentious ballot-box battles over school choice in the 2018 midterm elections. But its loss is not necessarily a defeat for school choice advocates.
Arianna Prothero, November 7, 2018
3 min read
School Choice & Charters Charter School Backers and Teachers' Unions Square Off In California's State Superintendent Race
A California election for an education post is smashing campaign spending records again, largely fueled by wealthy charter school boosters and teachers' unions.
Arianna Prothero, November 6, 2018
4 min read
School Choice & Charters Washington Supreme Court Upholds State's Embattled Charter Schools
The state's highest court ruled that Washington's charter school law is mostly constitutional, and that charter schools can continue to receive public money.
Arianna Prothero, October 25, 2018
4 min read
School Choice & Charters Arizona Voters Will Determine Whether to Massively Expand School Voucher Eligibility
The push to make 1.1 million of Arizona's school children eligible for vouchers has been both contentious and confounding, with questions about whether voters are interpreting the ballot language correctly.
Arianna Prothero, October 19, 2018
5 min read
School Choice & Charters KIPP Partners With Bard College on Dual Enrollment
One of KIPP's New Orleans' campuses is partnering with Bard College to offer its upperclassmen a chance to earn an associates degree while in high school. Given KIPP's national footprint, the model has the potential for large expansion.
Arianna Prothero, October 11, 2018
4 min read
School Choice & Charters A Look Inside Puerto Rico's First Charter School
Charter schools were not legal in Puerto Rico until a sweeping education reform law was enacted earlier this year in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Now, as the first charter opens on the island, and two more are slated to do so next school year, some educators are warning against privatization.
Lesli A. Maxwell, October 9, 2018
2 min read
Federal Who Benefits From Tax Breaks for Private School Scholarships? A New GAO Report Breaks It Down
Tax-credit scholarship programs, the lesser-known cousin to school vouchers and another school choice policy promoted by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, are the subject of a new Government Accountability Office report.
Arianna Prothero, September 18, 2018
2 min read
School Choice & Charters Is There a Growing Political Backlash to For-Profit Charter Schools?
Ohio's Democratic candidate for governor calls for a ban on for-profit companies running charter schools, while a new law in California does just that.
Arianna Prothero, September 17, 2018
3 min read
School Choice & Charters How a Trump Administration Tax Rule Could Hurt School Vouchers
Private school choice advocates are worried that tax-credit scholarship programs are getting swept into a crackdown by the Trump Administration on blue states trying to circumvent parts of the new GOP tax law.
Arianna Prothero, August 28, 2018
4 min read
School Choice & Charters Is 'Voucher' a Bad Word? What the Public Thinks About School Choice
In the era of Betsy DeVos, public opinion may have soured on the word voucher, but not the idea, a new poll finds.
Arianna Prothero, August 21, 2018
3 min read