New York City charter schools help neighboring district schools improve, according to a new study that’s set to be published in Education Finance and Policy. District administrators may pick up ideas from nearby charters to compete for students, said Sarah Cordes, a professor at Temple University and the study’s author. The study compares elementary school performance before and after a new charter opened from 1996 to 2010. A school within a half-mile of a charter school, for

Summer is the “time to dig in the sand, gulp from the hose, play at the park, and leap with joy … unless you’re a kid,” wrote Lenore Skenazy in a Wall Street Journal column, which (for those of us without access to the Journal) was summarized by the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Parents are bombarded with warnings, wrote Skenazy, founder of Free Range Kids. Basically: “Don’t have fun, it’s too dangerous.” Karl Neumann of the American Academy of Pediatrics warns parents of the haza

Does your child feel safe in school? asks Max Eden, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, on The 74. A recent poll of first-generation college students found that 1 in 4 did not feel safe in high school, and nearly 1 in 3 did not feel their high school was an emotionally safe or inclusive place. Using “school climate” surveys, he’s created an interactive tool showing students’ perceptions of their district-run schools in New York City and Los Angeles.  Both “conduct com

Too many American colleges have become “institutions of higher daycare,” writes Lance Morrow, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, in a biting essay on the chaos at Evergreen State College in Washington. Bret Weinstein, a biology professor, argued — rationally and courteously — against asking all whites to leave campus for a day as a protest against racism. Fifty students surrounded him after class to “shout him down, curse at him and demand his resignation,” repo

Washington, D.C. students who win the voucher lottery earn lower math scores than lottery losers, especially in elementary school, concludes a U.S. Department of Education study. There was no significant difference in reading scores. “Parents overwhelmingly support this program,” said Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a big fan of school choice in all its forms. Actually, the study didn’t find that, except in one area. Parents believe private schools are safer. “Previous resea