Magnet schools are one of the largest sectors of choice schools in the United States. In this study, we explored whether there is heterogeneity in magnet school effects on student achievement by examining the effectiveness of 24 recently funded magnet schools in 5 school districts across 4 states. We used a two-step analysis: First, separate…

Thirty years ago, the Connecticut Supreme Court forced our state to take stock of its system for funding schools. Our poorest towns had thousands of dollars less per child to spend. Today, our poorest districts spend roughly the same as our richest, but Connecticut's poor children still score far below their wealthy peers. Our school finance…

In June 2007, the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) was awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the College Ready School Diagnostic, a web-based diagnostic instrument. The purpose of this tool is to provide individual school profiles and customized recommendations, enabling each institution to make…

This article documents implementation and critically reflects upon the results of a partnership between a predominately white rural college and a multicultural urban school district. The partnership was intended both to recruit high school students of color from an urban school to teacher education and to encourage teacher candidates from a rural…

In many places across the country, public school students no longer automatically attend their neighborhood school. Instead, parents may decide that their child's needs are better met elsewhere, for example, at a small alternative school, an arts magnet school, a charter technology high school, or a media academy operating within a larger school.…