Reports, Scholarly Articles and Presentations
2006
- Democratic School Accountability: A Model for School Improvement
Chapter: Bottom-Up Accountability: An Urban Perspective
In this chapter, the authors review the structures of disconnection and disempowerment that urban school systems use to sever low-income constituents and communities of color from participation in schooling governance and accountability. The chapter then suggests various ways to structure meaningful parent and community participation in holding schools and districts accountable.
- Delivering Educational Services to Students
Experiencing Homelessness: The Challenges and Successes of New York State Homeless Liaisons
Carol Ascher & Deinya Phenix
[PDF: 8 pages, 75 KB]
This report outlines findings and recommendations in delivery (?) to homeless students and families based on the 2006 NYS-TEACHS LEA Liaison Survey. - A Rising Movement
Kavitha Mediratta
[PDF: 8 pages, 75 KB]
Fueled by the recent surge of philanthropic investments in high school reform, this paper identified several key trends in public education during the last two decades have created a context ripe for youth activism. - NCLB's Supplemental Educational Services: Is This What Our Students Need?
Carol Ascher
[Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 88, No. 02: pages 136-141]
This commentary reviews the political background of the out-of-school tutoring program and the for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations that are offering SES tutoring.
2005
- The Force of Ideas
Carol Ascher
[PDF: 45 pages, 322 KB]
This article describes a little-known aspect of both Viennese educational
history and the movement for psychoanalytic pedagogy during the interwar years. - Precarious Space: Majority Black Suburbs and their Public Schools
Carol Ascher & Edwina Branch-Smith
[Teachers College Record, Vol. 107, No. 09: pages 1956-1973]
This article draws on the experiences of Plainfield, New Jersey, and Prince George's County, Maryland,
to describe how strained resources, a history of racialized conflicts in governance and a perception of students as "
inner city" contribute to low student achievement in public schools in predominantly Black suburbs. - Youth Take the Lead on High School Reform Issues: Sistas and Brothas United
Fernando Carlo, Antoine Powell, Laura Vazquez, Shoshana Daniels, & Clay Smith, with Kavitha Mediratta & Amy Zimmer
[Rethinking Schools, Vol. 19, No. 04: pages 61-65]
This article discusses the struggle students face in the schools of the northwest Bronx and how students are working
together to build power to reform their schools. - School Choice and Diversity: What the Evidence Says
Chapter: An Examination of Charter School Equity
Carol Ascher & Nathalis Wamba, editor Janelle Scott
This book argues that the political and social contexts under which school choice plans are adopted are the primary factors in shaping student diversity within schools. - Building Partnerships: Community Voices in Planning and Developing New York City School Facilities
Carol Asher, Jodie Harris, Joan Byron, & Kavitha Mediratta
[PDF: 86 pages, 416 KB]
This report documents how parents, students, local residents and community organizations are currently involved in the planning and development of school facilities in New York City, and are identifying ways their participation might be expanded.
2004
- Charter School Funding in New York:
Perspectives on Parity with Traditional Public Schools
Robin Jacobowitz & Jonathan S. Gyurko
[PDF: 28 pages, 604 KB]
This report illustrates how charter school funding, when strictly limited to the funds and formulas identified in the New York State Charter Schools
Act, provided fewer resources to charter schools when compared to the expenditures of traditional public schools in the same school district. - Constituents of
Change: Community Organizations and Public Education Reform
Kavitha Mediratta, with Norm Fruchter, Edwina Branch, Barbara Gross, Janice Hirota, Yolanda McBride, Natalie Price, Beth Rosenthal, Tom Saunders, & Meryle Weinstein
[PDF: 76 pages, 524 KB]
This initial paper offers a descriptive analysis of the education work of eight highly developed community organizing groups,
the relationships that link their organizing efforts to changes in
schooling outcomes. - Lessons from the Field of School
Reform Organizing: A Review of Strategies for Organizers and Leaders
Amy Zimmer, editor Kavitha Mediratta
[PDF: 13 pages, 651 KB]
Based
on a 2000 survey of school reform organizing groups, this publication offers community organizers, parents, youth
and residents a number of field-tested strategies for organizing for school improvement. - The Finance Gap: Charter Schools and their
Facilities
Carol Ascher, Clyde Cole, Jodie Harris, & Juan Echazarreta
[PDF: 68 pages, 391 KB]
This report details the decade-long experience of charter schools with private-sector involvement in facilities financing, offers practical lessons to both charter schools and the wider public school community. - Virtual District, Real
Improvement: A Retrospective Evaluation of the Chancellor's District, 1996-2003
Deinya Phenix, Dorothy Siegel, Ariel Zaltsman, & Norm Fruchter
[PDF: 40 pages, 749 KB]
This study is
a retrospective analysis of the outcomes of the Chancellor’s District, a virtual district created to improve New York City’s most poorly
performing public schools. - Private Partners and the Evolution of Learning Communities in Charter Schools
Carol Ascher, Clyde Cole, Juan Echazarreta, Robin Jacobowitz, & Yolanda McBride
[PDF: 40 pages, 749 KB]
This report
details the development of learning communities in seven New York City charter schools in 2002-03.
2003
- An Examination of Charter School
Equity
Carol Ascher & Nathalis Wamba
[Education and Urban Society, vol. 35, number 4 (August 2003): pages 462-476]
In this article, the authors investigate the implications of charter school choice on the racial balance, resources,
and outcome of charter schools. - Charter School Accountability in New
York: Findings from a Three-Year Study of Charter School Authorizers
Carol Ascher, Juan Echazarreta, Robin Jacobowitz, Yolanda McBride, Tammi Troy, & Nathalis Wamba
[PDF: 48 pages, 520 KB]
This study gives an account of the experiences of three charter school authorizing agencies in New York State. These
agencies have focused their oversight on three types of accountability: performance-based accountability, contractual accountability, and
regulatory accountability. - District Effectiveness: A Study of
Investment Strategies in New York City Public Schools and Districts
Patrice Iatarola & Norm Fruchter
[Educational Policy, Vol. 18, No. 03: pages 491-512] - Civil Society and School
Accountability, A Human Rights Approach to Parent and Community Participation in New York City Schools
Elizabeth Sullivan, edited by Catherine Albisa, Norm Fruchter, & Kavitha Mediratta
[PDF: 48 pages, 1 MB]
While a
quality education is universally recognized as a fundamental human right, this report details how New York City persistently failed to
ensure that its public schools provide a quality education for all students. - From Governance to Accountability: Building
Relationships that Make Schools Work
Kavitha Mediratta & Norm Fruchter
[PDF: 25 pages, 542 KB]
For the third time in the last 50 years the New York State legislature has passed a law that significantly alters the
structure of the public school system. This report provides evidence that the current reform is unlikely to lead to large-scale school improvement
unless it combines top-down structure with bottom-up relationships with the people most important to student achievement: parents and communities. - Governance and Administrative Structure
in New York City Charter Schools
Carol Ascher, Juan Echazarreta, Robin Jacobowitz, Yolanda McBride, & Tammi Troy
[PDF: 44 pages, 324 KB]
This final
report of a three-year study explores the developing infrastructure in New York City charter schools and identified areas in which
school stakeholders-private partners, boards of trustees, school leaders, parents and teachers-often needed support to help charter
schools succeed. - Parent Power and Urban School Reform: The Story
of Mothers on the Move
Kavitha Mediratta & Jessica Karp
[PDF: 52 pages, 1 MB]
This case study
traces Mothers On the Move's struggle to improve Hunts Point schools, from its beginnings at BES, through its ouster of long time
community school district superintendent Max Messer, to its struggles with the new district superintendent. - Review of Charters, Vouchers,
and Public Education
Carol Ascher
[Teachers College Record, Vol. 105, No. 01: pages 128-133]
This review examines the book "Charters, Vouchers, and Public Education", based on essays first presented at a Program on
Education Policy and Governance held at Harvard University in March 2000. - Review of The Charter School Landscape
Carol Ascher
[Teachers College Record, Vol. 105, No. 07: pages 1302-1306]
This review examines the book "The Charter School Landscape",
based on interesting information, insights, and analyses on charter schools in eleven different states and one Canadian province.
2002
- Final Report: Evaluation
of the Performance Driven Budgeting Initiative of the New York City Board of Education
Dorothy Siegel & Norm Fruchter
[PDF: 88 pages, 5 MB]
New York City's Performance-Driven Budgeting (PDB) initiative, introduced in 1997, generated a new element in school-based
planning for instructional improvement, the explicit link between school-level budgeting and efforts to improve student and school performance. This
evaluation examines the implementation of that initiative from its inception in 1997 through most of 2000. - Organizing for School Reform: How
Communities are Finding their Voices and Reclaiming their Public Schools
Kavitha Mediratta, Norm Fruchter, & Anne Lewis
[PDF: 52 pages, 11 MB]
The study examines the work of 66 community groups that are organizing to improve public education in low-performing schools
and districts. In this document, we describe the diversity of methods and approaches groups are using and report on the groups' organizing
achievements and challenges. - Private Money/Public Schools: Early Evidence on Private
and Non-Traditional Support for New York City Public Schools
Schwartz, A.E., Bel Hadj Amor, H., & Norm Fruchter, in C. Roelke and J.K. Rice (Eds.) - Charter Reform and the Education Bureaucracy:
Lessons from New York State
Carol Ascher & Arthur R. Greenberg
[Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 83, no. 7: pages 513-517]
This report describes the interactions of two of New York State's charter school authorizers during the application process
and the effects of those interactions on charter school innovation.
2001
- Turning Around Low-Performing Schools - Sustaining the Effort
Carol Ascher
[Trends, November 2001, no. 11]
- Places to Learn: School
Facilities provide an Entry Point for Community Organizers
Joan Byron, Hillary Exter, & Kavitha Mediratta - A Case Study: Community Organizing for
School Improvement in the South Bronx
Eric Zachary & Shola Olatoye
[PDF: 22 pages, 6 MB]
This case
study shows how a group of parents in the South Bronx, armed with data and the support of the community group that rebuilt their
housing development, organized to build power and change the culture of the elementary school in their neighborhood. - Community Development Corporations and Public School Reform
Kavitha Mediratta & Norm Fruchter
[Neighborhood Notes, vol. Summer/Fall: page 9]
This case study shows how a group of parents in the South Bronx, armed with data and the support of the community group
that rebuilt their housing development, organized to build power and change the culture of the elementary school in their neighborhood. - Final Report of the Evaluation of New York Networks for School Renewal, 1996-2000
Dana Lockwood, Norm Fruchter, & Gordon Pradl
[PDF: 42 pages, 165 KB]
This evaluation report examines the academic outcomes, cost, and equity implications of Annenberg Challenge School in New
York City known as the New York Networks for School Renewal (NYNSR). - Going Charter: New Models of Support
Carol Ascher, Juan Echazarreta, Robin Jacobowitz, Yolanda McBride, Tammi Troy, & Nathalis Wamba
[PDF: 24 pages, 415 KB]
This report synthesizes the year-two findings of Going Charter, a three-year qualitative study of autonomy, accountability, finance and
supports in charter schools in New York City. - Mapping the Field of Organizing for School Improvement:
A Report on Education Organizing in Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, the Mississippi Delta, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Kavitha Mediratta & Norm Fruchter
[PDF: 73 pages, 631 KB]
This report looks at the methods, strategies and achievements
of community organizing groups in their efforts to build broader support for education organizing and create an arsenal of field-tested
tactics for improving their schools. - Teacher Quality and Student Performance in New York
City's Low-Performing Schools
Carol Ascher & Norm Fruchter
[Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, vol. 6, no. 3: pages 199-214]
This article discusses the relationship between teacher quality and student performance across New York
City's elementary and middle schools.
2000
- Going Charter, Lessons from Two
First-Year Studies
Carol Ascher, Robin Jacobowitz, Yolanda McBride, & Nathalis Wamba
[PDF: 50 pages, 131 KB]
Based on the findings of two (?) studies, Going Charter and
Going Charter: Systemic Effects, this report examines the impact of charter legislation and implementation on the charter school authorizers and other
agencies in New York City and State. - NYNSR Outcomes Study
Dana Lockwood, Yolanda McBride, Dae Yeop Kim, Alcine Mumby, & Norm Fruchter
[PDF: 72 pages, 220 KB]
Utilizing both student-level and school-level data, this report provides an in-depth examination of the New York Networks for School Renewal high schools,
comparisons between NYNSR high schools and a sample of similar schools from 1995-98, and present comparison analyses as well as comparisons between NYNSR high schools and large,
zoned high schools. - High School Size: Effects on Budgets and Performance in New York City
Leanna Stiefel, Robert Berne, Patrice Iatarola, & Norm Fruchter
This paper contributes to the school size policy debate by using
methods and data that combine budget and performance information, with the school as the unit of analysis.
1999
- Schools in Context: An Analysis of SURR Schools and their Districts
Carol Ascher, with Norm Fruchter & Ken Ikeda
This study,the second report of a two-year analysis of the
SURR process, examines New York State's low-performing schools in the context of their school districts and communities.
1998
- "…And it is
Still News." The Educational Inequalities that Have Brought Us Vouchers
Carol Ascher
[1998 Vol, Issue 2: pages 205-214] - Schools on Notice: Schools Under Registration Review Process
Carol Ascher, Ken Ikeda, & Norm Fruchter
This report is a comprehensive study of the State Education Department and its Schools
Under Registration Review (SURR) process. - Financing Our Future: Education
Improvements for the 21st Century (Panel Two Discussion)
Carol Ascher, Floyd Flake, Burt Neuborne, & Steven Shapiro
[1998 Vol, Issue 2: pages 231-244]
1997
- A Light in Dark Times: Maxine Greene and
the Unfinished Conversation
chapter by Norm Fruchter, editors William Ayers & Janet L. Miller
Fruchter's chapter uses Maxine Greene's work on public space
as a platform to examine how a series of schooling controversies played out in his community school board.
1996
- Hard Lessons: Public Schools and
Privatization
Carol Ascher, Norm Fruchter, & Robert Berne
An examination of efforts to privatize aspects of U.S. public school system functions between 1970 and 1995. - Performance Contracting: A Forgotten Experiment
in School Privatization
Carol Ascher
[Phi Delta Kappan 77, No. 9 (May 1996): pages 615-621. (Out of print.)]
The author describes three performance experiments and suggests that lessons learned from these experiences can enrich the national discussion concerning
privatization now sweeping the country.