Emily Langhorne

In November, NPR uncovered a graduation scandal at Ballou High Schoolin Washington, D.C., where half the graduates missed more than 90 days of school. Administrators pressured teachers to pass failing students, including those whom teachers had barely seen. Policy wonks have had a field day with the report, adding graduation scandals to their lists of […]

Fighting for the neediest and pushing back against special interests are often unexpected actions in the realm of political battles. However, Dorsey Hopson, Superintendent of the Shelby County Schools (SCS) in Memphis, Tennessee, might exceed our expectations. Last week, Hopson announced that he is “willing to voluntarily relinquish control over some struggling schools to be […]

A recent New York Times article suggested that Chicago had the nation’s fastest-improving large urban school district. In it, reporters Emily Badger and Kevin Quealy summarized data from a new study by Sean Reardon of the Stanford University Center for Education Policy Analysis. For many, that was surprising news, since the district has received heat […]

The Associated Press recently published an analysis that claims charter schools increase segregation in America’s public schools. Charter schools are public schools operated by independent organizations, usually nonprofits. Freed from many of the rules that constrain district-operated schools, they can craft programs that meet the needs of their students. In exchange for increased autonomy, they […]

The Albert Shanker Institute recently released a report that analyzed the negative effects of private schools on integrated public education in Washington, D.C. While only 15 percent of students in the nation’s capital attend private schools, 57 percent of white students do. Private schools essentially create the segregation equivalent of white flight to the suburbs, […]

When I was a teacher, I didn’t have a “cute” classroom. My colleague upstairs designed a reading space for students, complete with comfortable seats, a special carpet, and twinkle lights. I was lucky if my posters stayed on the wall (which, often they didn’t because of the school’s erratic temperature changes). Regardless, most students loved […]

Could charter schools and school choice be the best hope for integrating our public schools by race and income? Charter schools are public schools operated by independent organizations, usually nonprofits. They are freed from many of the rules that constrain district-operated schools. In exchange for increased autonomy, they are normally held accountable for their performance […]

“The building used to be a tomato factory. This space was where the trucks would pull up to unload the produce,” Ralph Bland said as he gestured around the large, airy room that is now the cafetorium — the combined cafeteria-auditorium — of Detroit Edison Public Academy School, a PK-12 public charter school in Detroit, […]

Diana Smith, principal of Washington Latin Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., received a lot of press this summer when her No-Tech Tuesday Challengecaught the interest of the media, educators, and parents. At the end of the last school year, Smith challenged the 160 eighth and ninth grade students at WLPCS to stay off of […]

In a recent media release, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) announced they are looking for “quality partners” to launch innovation network schools for the 2018-2019 school year. IPS explains their innovation school network as a group of “public schools with expanded autonomy to make academic and operational decisions that will maximize student achievement. Innovation schools also […]