Plagued by long-term poor student outcomes, a number of reforms have been implemented within the Philadelphia School District to improve performance, including the use of charter schools. The number of charter schools in Philadelphia has risen from four to more than 60 over the past decade, and these schools now serve over 30,000 students. Debate…

Private tutoring is a growing industry that is being transformed by an evolution from "shadow education" provision into "learning center" franchises. Traditional shadow educators closely follow the school curriculum, offering short-term homework help and test preparation. Learning centers develop their own curricular and…

Benjamin Franklin founded the University of Pennsylvania as a secular institution with the pragmatic aim of instilling in its students the inclination and ability to serve humankind in both the civic and mercantile realms. On this, the three hundredth anniversary of his birth (1706-2006), Franklin's ideal of a democratic, engaged university has…

America's economic productivity and competitiveness are grounded in education. The public schools and the higher education institutions alike are falling behind those of other nations. This paper recommends four policy proposals that offer substantial promise for improving American education, are achievable and have low costs. These…

The purpose of this study was to gain an in depth knowledge of the day to day activities of home school families in order to better understand the instructional approaches, curriculum decisions, and challenges. Four themes were addressed: motivations, operations, resources, and challenges. Findings about motivations to home school included: (a)…

The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University conducted a large-scale analysis of the impact of charter schools on student performance. The center's data covered 65-70% of the nation's charter schools. Although results varied by state, 17% of the charter school students have significantly higher math results than …

Home education is a well established phenomenon in Australia but little is known about the movement of students between home schooling and formal education and how students view and handle the transitions. A sociocultural theoretical framework has been used to explore student perceptions of their transition experiences between formal education and…

Although dropout rates in virtual school courses are typically quite high, some virtual programs have very low course dropout and failure rates and better passing rates on key criterion tests (e.g., AP tests) than do traditional school programs. Directors of five successful virtual schools agreed to share their "formulas for success" in…

Supporters of public education fear attempts to privatize schools, while the private sector has always struggled against the monopolistic power of the public schools that educates almost 90% of all K-12 students. This trepidation has recently been intensified by the creation of a "third sector" that includes charter schools, voucher…

There is considerable naivete regarding the similarities between progressive education and open education. Discusses these similarities and differences. (Editor/JF)

Describes the basic principles (referred to as commandments) of progressive education and traditional education. Argues for a synthesis of both education philosophies. (PKP)

This study examined the reasons that four high school students who had previously refused to attend school willingly attended an alternative K-12 school for students with special needs. The two research questions that framed this study were (a) why do students who refused to attend their regular schools willingly attend Brookfield Park? and (b) in…

Some current experiences in conservative education are in marked opposition to present-day educational innovations, such as minicourses, microteaching, and open education in general. (JA)