Take Me On A Reading Adventure, A Literacy Guide For America's Charter Schools

LITERACY GUIDE RELEASED TO ASSIST
CHARTER SCHOOLS' READING PROGRAMS

(January 2003) Take Me On A Reading Adventure, A Literacy Guide For America's Charter Schools was created by America's Charter School Finance Corporation under its Charter School Awareness, Outreach and Literacy Program. The goal of the project was to assist charter schools in their efforts to develop high-quality reading programs. A centerpiece of the guide is a series of profiles of nine charter schools that implemented reading programs resulting in significant student achievement. The Reading Adventure also provides a description of how children learn to read, reviews recent studies on teaching strategies, discusses the importance of faculty development, assessment, and accountability, provides a host of reading activities to supplement school programs including suggested activities to encourage family support and involvement with reading, and includes a variety of program resources including book list recommendations, professional terms and library, and information on useful websites. We hope that The Reading Adventure will be an impetus for further collaboration among charter schools and an exchange of ideas and strategies aimed at improving student reading achievement.

The Reading Adventure was developed with funding provided by the United States Department of Education and assistance from a number of charter schools and charter school organizations including The Center for Education Reform, Charter Friends National Network, and the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools. Schools profiled in the guide include: The Accelerated Charter School, Los Angeles, California, The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter School, Franklin, Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin Charter School, Mesa, Queen Creek, and Gilbert, Arizona, Cherry Creek Academy, Englewood, Colorado, Cross Creek Academy, Bryon Center, Michigan, Einstein Montessori School, Gainesville, Florida, Friendship Edison Public School, Washington, D.C., Harlem Day Charter School, New York, New York and the Rapoport Academy, Waco, Texas. Dr. Cathy Collins Block, Professor of Education, Texas Christian University and Reading is Fundamental, Inc., also contributed to the guide.

About Charter Schools from the Center for Education Reform

Newswire - February 3, 2004 Choice Opponents, Step Aside ... Connecticut's Choice Proposal ... Award-Winning Charters ... Show of Strength in Mississippi ... Auto-Pilot ... Charter Voice on CA Board ... Building Excellent Schools

Spare the School, Despoil the Child
New York Post Editorial , January 30, 2004 "Because Reisenbach is a charter school, not a traditional public school, something can be done about its chronic and abysmal failures: It can be shut. SUNY trustees were asked to do just that. Instead, they punted."

Newswire - January 27, 2004 DC's Choice Victory ... Vintage Kerry on the BLOB ... CHARTER SCHOOLS: Caps Off in Massachusetts?, 3 Cheers in California, Accountability in Ohio, Expansion Plan for Virginia ... National Council of Education Providers ... Dumbing Down in Arizona & Virginia? ... Local Louisiana Flavor

A Bridge to a Charter School: City Offers Campus Space in Return for Assistance
By Justin Blum , Washington Post , January 25, 2004 "What we're seeing now is a recognition that the District itself cannot handle . . . everything it needs to do by itself in a centralized way," said Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform, a Washington-based group that supports charter schools.

Charter Schools
Highlights: As of January 2003, nearly 2,700 charter schools are operating in 36 states and the District of Columbia, serving over 684,000 students.

Charter Scrutiny Guarantees Quality, Accountability
By Jeanne Allen , Letter to the Editor submitted to the New York Times , January 15, 2004 The intense scrutiny of the New York charter review process offers parents a guarantee of excellence. Would that the same could be said for the city's non-charter public schools, over which parents have little choice.

Charter School Eligibility Debate Likely to Heat Up
By Claudette Riley and Diane Long , The Tennessean , January 12, 2004 The national nonprofit Center for Education Reform, which has tracked charter school laws for more than a decade, calls Tennessee's law poorly written and one of the weakest in the country.... ''Laws that are not specific can be interpreted much more restrictively,'' said Anna Varghese, director of external affairs for the center.

Michigan Charter Schools Succeed Students attending Detroit charter schools open at least six years outperformed the local traditional district in seven of 10 grades and subjects tested on the 2003 MEAPs.

Jeanne Allen's Letter to Friends Parents take note: bigger, not better, SATs; school districts shirking their obligation under NCLB to give more options.... CER tracks the latest ups and downs in ed reform that will shape 2004.

CER to Lead New Multi-State Partnership for Parents
CER Press Release , Washington, DC , November 18, 2003 Using a federal grant focused on helping parents to understand their rights under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the Parent Information Resource Center will support outreach to more than 200,000 parents in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina.

Charter Schools Today: A Record of Success
Charter Schools Today , November 14, 2003 Charter schools are outpacing non-charter public school student achievement, despite fewer resources and mounting obstacles. In addition to serving "average" populations, charters are serving exceptionally well children of color, children with special needs and huge numbers of poor children.

GAO Report on Privately Managed Schools is Limited in Scope and Findings
CER Analysis , November 5, 2003 The key underlying principle continues to be that school choice promotes competition, which is beneficial to all schools whether privately managed or traditionally funded. Competition raises the bar across the board and offers parents the freedom of choice when it comes to the educational future of their children.

Seattle Charter School Activists Recieve Best of Education Reform Award at CER's 10TH Anniversary Gala Seattle residents Jim and Fawn Spady received the "Persistence Will Pay" award from the Center for Education Reform for their unswerving persistence in pursuit of a charter school law in their state.

Charter Schools Are Rising to the Challenge
By Peter Thorp , San Francisco Chronicle , October 2, 2003 California charters in operation for at least five years -- the time it takes to fully implement a program -- are outscoring non-charter public schools on the state's mandated testing, according to a study by the Charter Schools Development Center in Sacramento. San Francisco's two oldest charter high schools -- Gateway and Leadership -- rank among the top four high schools on the statewide assessment tests.

Nine Years Of Research Confirms Charter Schools' Success: CER Updates Summary Of Research on Charter Schools
CER Press Release , Washington, DC , September 17, 2003 What the research reveals is: charter schools work. Major studies consistently show that charters enrich the educational scene and offer excellent educational opportunities for thousands of children in hundreds of communities.

What the Research Reveals About Charter Schools

CER's updated report looks at the growing number of national, regional and state charter school studies. Of 98 studies, 88 show positive effects of charter schools.

A Charter-Schools War: A New Study Says That 70 Percent Of Black Charter-School Students Attend Highly Segregated Schools
By Pat Wingert , Newsweek , July 21, 2003

"Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform, a pro-charter organization, says the Harvard study is 'misleading' .... 'The idea that charters have more black faces per capita is something we should be celebrating,” Allen says, “because these families are choosing to take their kids out of failing schools. For many, it’s the first time they’ve been given that opportunity.'” Link here for more of CER's response to the study.

Study Says Charter Schools Failing to Promote Diversity; Urban Facilities Heavily Minority
By Elizabeth Boch , Boston Globe , July 13, 2003

Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform in Washington, D.C., a group that backs charter schools, said school choice provides greater opportunities for diversity than the public school system, where enrollment is based on housing patterns. "You have large numbers of charter schools in urban areas where the need is the greatest,'' she said. ''Diversity is a laudable goal and is already being served by charter schools." Link here for more of CER's response to the study.

Harvard Charter Study Misleads: Demographic Comparisons and Conclusions Miss the Mark
CER Press Release , Washington, D.C. , July 11, 2003

Another misleading report has been issued concerning charter schools, this one from the Harvard University Civil Rights Project. Its comparisons and conclusions about charter school demographics miss the mark.

Get the Facts on D.C. Charter Schools
By Jeanne Allen , Letter to the Editor submitted to The Washington Post , Washington, D.C. , June 19, 2003

Educating the hardest to educate children is difficult enough without superficial and biased scrutiny that offers little factual context.

High Achievers Don't Want to Be Left Behind: Schools Seek Charter Status Over One-Size-Fits-All Reform
USA Today , May 13, 2003

''Our education crisis is not limited to the urban areas," says Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform, a Washington, D.C., group that advocates for charter schools. "The parents of the children in these Los Angeles-area schools, even though they have more advantages than others, are enormously frustrated that they can't get a higher-quality education for their kids.''

Congressional Co-Chairs for Salute to Charter Schools Announced: Delegation to Lead National Observance

The Center for Education Reform (CER) announced today that eight Congressional leaders have agreed to serve as honorary-co-chairs of the Congressional Salute to Charter Schools in conjunction with the fourth annual National Charter Schools Week.

CER Releases 8^th National Charter School Directory
CER Press Release , Washington, D.C. , January 21, 2003

The Directory profiles the 2,695 charter schools that are operating for the 2002-2003 school year, serving 684,495 students in 36 states and Washington, D.C.

Charter School Laws Across the States: Ranking Scorecard and Legislative Profiles
CER Report , January 14, 2003

Once again, CER has studied and evaluated the language and effects of the now 40 charter school laws in the United States. As the number of laws has grown, so too has their complexity. Still, using consistent criteria, it is easy to separate the strong from the weak.

Literacy Guide Released to Assist Charter Schools' Reading Programs
January 1, 2003

Take Me On A Reading Adventure, A Literacy Guide For America's Charter Schools helps charters develop high-quality reading programs. The guide profiles charter schools that have implemented successful programs, and helps others do the same. The Guide was created by America's Charter School Finance Corporation with assistance from CER and others.

Charter Closures: The Opportunity for Accountability

Far from being an indictment of charter schools, closures provide real contractual accountability, which is all too often missing at many traditional public schools. Includes nationwide data.

ESEA How-To Guide for Schools
CER Action Paper , June 30, 2002

Offers help to schools -- charters as well as traditional district public schools -- struggling to decipher how the new federal education law established by the No Child Left Behind Act affects them.

Charter Schools: Six Common Criticisms from Opponents…and Proof That They are Unfounded
CER Action Paper , February 1, 2002

Critics of charter schools continually serve up arguments claiming charters are so bad as a way to divert attention from why traditional public schools aren't good enough. But the evidence shows that charters are serving students fairly and well, and are aboon to parents and the education system.

Beyond Brick and Mortar: Cyber Charters Revolutionizing Education

The joining of the internet and the decades old charter movement is leading to a whole new 21st Century school house, and offering parents additional choices, especially for children physically or emotionally unable to attend traditional schools.

Charter Schools Today: Changing the Face of American Education

This report captures a vivid snapshot of the charter schools movement in the United States. Charter schools not only provide a very popular alternative to traditional public schools, but are having a dramatic impact on the district system. OUT OF STOCK -- Currently being revised.

Just the FAQs - Charter Schools What are they? · How are they funded?· How do they impact other public schools? · Do they work? · Where are they? · What's happening in charter legislation and laws?

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