Oftentimes, policymakers discuss school reform only in terms of its benefits to students. In this brief, researcher Bartley R. Danielsen identifies how more multifaceted reforms can not only improve educational outcomes for students but also revitalize communities by encouraging wealthy families to remain in lower-income areas, thereby raising…

The widespread assumption in the United States today is that traditional urban public schools are failing. Market-based solutions, particularly charter schools, are seen as the way to improve urban education. How then can we understand a large urban district where educational actors have furthered a locally popular alternative vision? This article…

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education distributed $2,500,000 via a competitive grant program, the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans, to 11 school districts. The grants and their local effects provide an opportunity to examine the new politics of diversity in public education. Participants cited a wide range of conceptions of…