Low Performing Schools
Budget & Finance
How COVID-19 Will Make Fixing America's Worst-Performing Schools Even Harder
COVID-19's fallout has shaken how states spend billions in federal aid to fix poor-performing schools serving the most-vulnerable students.
College & Workforce Readiness
Calculating Grad Rates for Charter Schools: It's Complicated
Federal data paint a grim picture of the charter school sector's ability to graduate its students. But comparing charter high schools' graduating power with that of all other public high schools is tricky.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Are Charter Management Companies a Laboratory for Effective School Systems?
Marc Tucker argues that there is no evidence that charter systems at scale raise student performance to global levels, and advises policymakers to instead, focus on learning from nations and states whose students are outperforming U.S. students across the board.
Every Student Succeeds Act
States Adjust Course on School Turnaround Districts
The new school year brings changes for states that are starting—or, in at least one case, dropping—state-directed efforts to improve some of their lowest-performing schools.
School Choice & Charters
Opinion
Theresa May and the Design of the American Education System
Marc Tucker discusses a recent piece by Checker Finn on British Prime Minister Theresa May's education agenda and analyzes the lessons it may provide for U.S. policy makers.
Federal
In Massachusetts, Voters Shun Expansion of Charters
The state will keep its status as one of the most restrictive states when it comes to the expansion of the charter school sector.
School & District Management
Georgia Voters to Decide State's Role in Struggling Schools
A ballot measure would alter the state constitution to allow a special district to intervene in low-performing schools.
Every Student Succeeds Act
ESSA Clears Out Underbrush on School Improvement Path
The new federal K-12 law gives states and districts a freer hand in fixing their lowest-performing schools, but questions loom on whether that leeway will translate into better outcomes.
School & District Management
Amid School-Closure Worries, Michigan Lists Low Performers
State officials insist the roster of low-performing schools is not a closure list, but an accountability measure required by law, though those reassurances may face skepticism.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
High Poverty, High Achievement in Hong Kong
Marc Tucker details a recent visit to a school in a high-poverty Hong Kong neighborhood and asks: Could such a success story happen in the United States?
Every Student Succeeds Act
Explainer
The Every Student Succeeds Act: An ESSA Overview
2015's Every Student Succeeds Act rolls back much of the federal government's big footprint in education policy.
Curriculum
Acclaimed Educator Jaime Escalante Featured in New U.S. Postage Stamp
Escalante, the Bolivian native and former U.S. high school math teacher, died of cancer in 2010.
Every Student Succeeds Act
Test-Participation Mandate Puts States on Spot
Despite the rise of the testing opt-out movement, states are still on the hook to assure that 95 percent of eligible students take state exams in English/language arts and math.
Equity & Diversity
Political Winds Buffet Tenn.'s Achievement School District
The state-run district that takes over low-performing schools has run into partisan trouble fueled by a study showing progress lagging at those schools compared with other turnaround models.