The Rhetorical War on Public Schools from the Left and Right

Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. George Orwell Words matter.  What we call something affects public support for it. Is a medical meeting, “end of life counseling” or a “death panel”, the descriptions matter   So it’s not a coincidence,…


Schools to Celebrate- Autism Inclusion in Harlem

New York City has a great program for autism inclusion in its district schools.  Thing was, there wasn’t one in Harlem.  We helped change that. While folks often see charters as modeling practices for the District, we stole the District’s model and put in a charter.  And it’s working. It all started over steak-frites.  A…


Real Stories of American Indian Public Charter School

It was over 15 years ago, when elders in the Native Community asked me help with the American Indian Public Charter School.  A school, then in revocation, and now rated among the best schools in the City, state, and country.  But at that time, nepotism reined, the school was in debt, had no employees, only…


Common Enrollment is Dead, and That is a Good Thing; for Everyone but Families

I don’t want to call it.  But checking the vital signs and virulent opposition, I think common enrollment is dead in Oakland.  It did not seem like a revolutionary idea.  But may it rest in peace. It seemed like a good idea.  Rather than families needing to fill out 40 some different charter school applications…


What Did We Learn from the UCLA Charter School Discipline Study?

Charter-run schools need to address head on disproportionate discipline—situations where subgroups of students consistently suffer higher rates of punishment—and so do district-run schools. Those were my big takeaways from the data in the recent UCLA study which drew on data from 2012.  The summary data table is here: The headlines I saw covering the study were…