3/26/09  Columbus Dispatch Blog  Jennifer Smith Richards In Milwaukee, which has the largest private-school voucher program in the country, a new study says students who use vouchers and those in Milwaukee Public Schools academically are similar. A comprehensive study of academics hasn’t been done since the mid 1990s, according to a Journal-Sentinel story. The study [...]

3/26/09  Columbus Dispatch Blog  Jennifer Smith Richards There would be a human cost if Gov. Ted Strickland’s budget proposal becomes a reality and a significant number of charter schools are forced to close, says Terry Ryan, vice president for Ohio programs and policy for the charter-supporting Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Ryan co-wrote a guest opinion [...]

3/26/09  Columbus Dispatch Blog  Simone Sebastian Columbus is Ohio’s largest urban district, but it has the smallest special-ed population among its peers. Check out how Columbus ranks in other categories in this comparison crafted by KidsOhio.org. It looks at how Columbus City Schools measures up to the other big 8 by graduation rate, low-income students [...]

3/26/09  Columbus Dispatch  Jennifer Smith Richards Rexx Wilson, 16, a ninth-grade student at Crittenton Community School, inflates a balloon in science class while studying Newton’s laws of motion. The school, which serves about 150 sixth- to ninth-graders at a time, tries to help students who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out. [...]

3/26/09  Columbus Dispatch Editorial  Ohio lawmakers considering the future of charter schools have two powerful indicators to guide them: a study showing that the verdict of the schools’ effectiveness is far from clear, and the passionate testimony of families who want their charter schools to survive. So the best course is not to wipe out [...]