New data on charter schools in Boston (pdf). Worth reading, a few interesting angles on the issue. Good that supporters of various choice ideas in Boston – pilot schools and charter schools – willing to put this out there.
And a new paper on NCLB and accountability. There isn’t a lot new in the accountability paper but it again underscores, as other studies have, the point that accountability policies produce at least modest improvements and they don’t do damage in the process (and that we can measure school performance in more sophisticated ways now than in 2001, the last time the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was reauthorized). You’d think all this would be a jumping off point for a lively conversation about what else is needed in addition to an accountability floor – for instance in-and out-of-school student supports, instructional/teacher quality issues, pre-K, choice, etc…
Instead, given the dysfunctional nature of our national conversation about education, we argue about accountability.