IALA » Ed Com of States

Status of Choices in the U.S.

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:30:22 +0000

More options are becoming available to parents and students. The current run down of choices:

Charter laws: 40 states have adopted the charter concept. These vary from strong laws with a high degree of program autonomy to weak laws where the charter school has almost no power to decide anything.

Open enrollment: 42 states give some form of a choice for which school or school district to attend. Some of the statutes provide for voluntary participation by districts and some give the decision totally to the parent.

Vouchers: 6 states have voucher laws usually for a city within the state to have a student

Great Resource

Wayne Jennings — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 04:53:26 +0000

The Education Commission of the States is a great resource of reliable information and research and now provides a database of current information on a variety of subjects relevant to this website: alternative education, choices, charter schools, vouchers and 50 some other topics. These take the form of policy briefs, summaries of each state

High School Redesign

Wayne Jennings — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 09:52:31 +0000

A new report, State Strategies for Redesigning High Schools and Promoting High School to College Transitions by the Education Commission of the States is the latest in a long saga of reports from various sources calling for significant reform of high schools. This brief (6 pages) describes the problem, suggests changes and outlines the initiatives in several states. It also provides valuable links to other studies and reports. Lynn Olson in a related article, “Calls for Revamping High Schools Intensify” pours on more fuel and provides additional articles on the topic.

Valuable Database of State Alternatives

Wayne Jennings — Wed, 03 Mar 2004 18:03:13 +0000

The Education Commission of the States has compiled a very useful database of all 50 states and the islands showing policies and statutes for educational choices including open enrollment, charter schools, vouchers, tax credits and tax deductions and dual/concurrent enrollment.

Charter Schools Online Database

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 24 Nov 2003 04:12:17 +0000

One form of alternatives is the charter school movement in the U.S. About 3,000 charter schools are operating during the 2003-2004 school year. The Education Commission of the States has assembled a valuable database from which reports can be generated across the states about charter school profiles, laws, enrollments, size, policies, funding, facilities, etc.

School Choice Issues

Wayne Jennings — Fri, 01 Aug 2003 16:15:43 +0000

A recent article from the Education Commission of the States summarizes school choice in the U.S. Its based on a study by the National Center for Education Statistics conducted for the years 1993-1999 and shows an increase in the numbers of students in educational options.

Another study “Mapping SCHOOL CHOICE in Massachusetts:
Data and Findings 2003,” describes the kinds of options and the extent of their use in MA, trends, the national context and details about choices in the Boston area.