In 1998, Missouri became one of 37 states to pass charter school legislation with the signing of Senate bill 781. In 1999, sixteen charter schools in Kansas City, Missouri were approved for operation. This represents the largest number of charter school aprovals in the nation, in the shortest time period after passage of a charter school bill. This study examined the political climate in Kansas City that permitted the successful passage of the Missouri charter school law. It compared the charter school movement to Katz's nineteenth century democratic localism model of education. The study answered the question of how well charter schools complied with Missouri charter school law. Compliance to student admissions and scholastic accountability criteria were the focus for the study. Interviews with charter school stakeholders were conducted to answer two questions: what were the major start-up problems for charter schools, and what were the perceived major success stories of charter schools? The scope of the study included Kansas City, Missouri charter schools that had applications approved in the 1999 school year. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data were gathered to examine the Kansas City charter school movement. Aggregate 1999/2000 district and state MAP scores, and individual charter school MAP scores were examined to determine whether the student population being recruited to attend charter schools was proportionate to students attending traditional KCMSD schools and whether the brightest children were being recruited away from the district. Report card 1999/2000 data on individual charter schools aided in comparing several variables between charter and traditional schools. Supporting documentation was drawn from several sources including Missouri Senate and House bills, reports from academic centers and foundations, local newspaper reports, charter school applications and sponsoring agency standards for approving charter schools. Qualitative data was drawn from interviews from charter school stakeholders including Missouri legislators, charter school sponsors, The Learning Exchange, charter school administrators and the Kansas City Missouri School board mdmbers

When charter schools first arrived on the American educational scene, few observers suspected that within two decades thousands of these schools would be established, serving almost a million and a half children across forty states. The widespread popularity of these schools, and of the charter movement itself, speaks to the unique and chronic desire for substantive change in American education. As an innovation in governance, the ultimate goal of the charter movement is to improve learning opportunities for all students—not only those who attend charter schools but also students in public schools that are affected by competition from charters. In The Charter School Experiment, a select group of leading scholars traces the development of one of the most dynamic and powerful areas of education reform. Contributors with varying perspectives on the charter movement carefully evaluate how well charter schools are fulfilling the goals originally set out for them: introducing competition to the school sector, promoting more equitable access to quality schools, and encouraging innovation to improve educational outcomes. They explore the unintended effects of the charter school experiment over the past two decades, and conclude that charter schools are entering a new phase of their development, beginning to serve purposes significantly different from those originally set out for them.

Thirteen years ago, Tom Bloch was CEO of H&R Block, the groundbreaking tax organization. The son of the company’s founder, he was a happily married 41-year-old executive, but something was missing from his life. After a nineteen-year career at the company, Bloch resigned his position to become a math teacher in an impoverished inner-city section of Kansas City. Stand for the Best reveals Bloch’s struggles to make a difference for his marginalized students and how he eventually co-founded a successful charter school, University Academy.

The field of education has experienced extraordinary technological, societal, and institutional change in recent years, making it one of the most fascinating yet complex fields of study in social science. Unequalled in its combination of authoritative scholarship and comprehensive coverage, International Encyclopedia of Education, Third Edition succeeds two highly successful previous editions (1985, 1994) in aiming to encapsulate research in this vibrant field for the twenty-first century reader. Under development for five years, this work encompasses over 1,000 articles across 24 individual areas of coverage, and is expected to become the dominant resource in the field. Education is a multidisciplinary and international field drawing on a wide range of social sciences and humanities disciplines, and this new edition comprehensively matches this diversity. The diverse background and multidisciplinary subject coverage of the Editorial Board ensure a balanced and objective academic framework, with 1,500 contributors representing over 100 countries, capturing a complete portrait of this evolving field. A totally new work, revamped with a wholly new editorial board, structure and brand-new list of meta-sections and articles Developed by an international panel of editors and authors drawn from senior academia Web-enhanced with supplementary multimedia audio and video files, hotlinked to relevant references and sources for further study Incorporates ca. 1,350 articles, with timely coverage of such topics as technology and learning, demography and social change, globalization, and adult learning, to name a few Offers two content delivery options - print and online - the latter of which provides anytime, anywhere access for multiple users and superior search functionality via ScienceDirect, as well as multimedia content, including audio and video files

In 1987 Judge Russell Clark mandated tax increases to help pay for improvements to the Kansas City, Missouri, School District in an effort to lure white students and quality teachers back to the inner-city district. Yet even after increasing employee salaries and constructing elaborate facilities at a cost of more than $2 billion, the district remained overwhelmingly segregated and student achievement remained far below national averages. Just eight years later the U.S. Supreme Court began reversing these initiatives, signifying a major retreat from Brown v. Board of Education. In Kansas City, African American families opposed to the district court's efforts organized a takeover of the school board and requested that the court case be closed. Joshua Dunn argues that Judge Clark's ruling was not the result of tyrannical "judicial activism" but was rather the logical outcome of previous contradictory Supreme Court doctrines. High Court decisions, Dunn explains, necessarily limit the policy choices available to lower court judges, introducing complications the Supreme Court would not anticipate. He demonstrates that the Kansas City case is a model lesson for the types of problems that develop for lower courts in any area in which the Supreme Court attempts to create significant change. Dunn's exploration of this landmark case deepens our understanding of when courts can and cannot successfully create and manage public policy.