Critics see the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), a network of 141 charter schools, as part of the corporate based school reform movement (e.g., Horn, 2011; Grey, 2011), a view shared by many traditional public school educators. So-called corporate based school reform strategies allegedly exploit students and teachers, employ very narrow metrics…

This article presents the author's critique on Robert Weissberg's book titled "Bad Students, Not Bad Schools". The author argues that Weissberg's readable, controversial "Bad Students, Not Bad Schools" (2010) is funny, acerbic, bold, and slaughters more than a few sacred cows of what Weissberg calls the "failed educational industrial complex." As…

Many people view subgovernments such as the "military-industrial complex" as largely self-governing and budget maximizing. Yet, as defense cutbacks in the 1970s and 1990s show, such networks do not maintain their privileged status indefinitely. In similar fashion, some claim public education is too autonomous and too focused on budget…

We assess whether the organizational culture of traditional public schools shapes their response to competition from charter schools in Arizona, which has a high level of charter school competition. We focus on traditional public elementary schools from 1995 to 1998, when charter schools were introduced in this state. We explore this topic by…

The U.S. charter school movement has expanded rapidly, but this growth is geographically uneven at the school district level. Focusing on Arizona--which has the least restrictive charter school law in the United States--we use district variables to determine the factors driving charter market share in 41 districts. Included in our analysis is an…

In the inaugural issue of the "Journal of School Choice," John Merrifield offers an important, insightful, and highly provocative critique of charter schooling in an effort to "get people to think about the issues...and seek additional evidence". In "Charter Laws: Disaster, Detour, Irrelevant, or Reform Tool?" Merrifield maintains that economic…