The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools recently released its annual report—and to no surprise, charter school enrollment continues to grow—increasing 62% in the last five years. Chartering now educates about 6% of the nation’s public school students.

About a year ago I blogged about a successful charter school in Minneapolis leading the way in personalized learning: Venture Academy. Now they are helping to lead the nation. Venture Academy was recently chosen as one of 19 district and charter public schools around the country for a pilot project in blended learning created by a powerful team in California.

I’ve led a lot of breakout sessions at various conferences over the past few years. But none were as fun as the session I co-led last month at the Ohio Charter School Conference with Ohio’s Sally Perz and Moderator Lyman Millard.

I heard from many sources at the Ohio Charter Schools Conference November 12-13, that this state conference was “their most productive ever.” Ohio chartering is now 18 years old, and as the conference theme denotes, chartering in Ohio is “Coming of Age.” The timing is good to build on that momentum to restart the public conversation, dispel chartering myths, and rebuild trust with the public and within the sector...

“The simple fact that everyone is different—and comfortable with those differences—unites us a community. Being different is what bonds us. ACPA (Arts & College Preparatory Academy, Columbus Ohio) has taught me that “tolerating” people’s differences does not create the empathic society most of us pursue. Rather, celebrating, embracing, and learning what makes people unique has allowed me to discover more about who I am and ultimately has led me to be more of myself than I would have otherwise become.”

When I visited Arts and College Preparatory Academy (ACPA) in Columbus, Ohio last month, I expected to see a successful arts charter public high school. What I saw was so much more.

In recent weeks my book, Zero Chance of Passage: The Pioneering Charter School Story, came up in a strange context in national blogposts. Bloggers noted that I described President Bill Clinton as a “powerful advocate for the chartering movement from the beginning.” They noted that President Clinton endorsed my book as a “fascinating and detailed account of the bipartisan movement to revive the American education system.” They noted that Hillary Clinton as first lady publicly applauded chartering.

The Suzuki Charter School of Edmonton, one of the 13 Alberta, Canada charter schools, is taking full advantage of the Alberta policy mandate that charter schools engage in research to share with all public schools. They are researching how the Suzuki pedagogical approach might affect student academic and personal learning outcomes.

During my recent visit to the board of directors meeting and provincial conference of The Association of Alberta Public Charter Schools, I was intrigued by two features of chartering not often found in the U.S. With a conference theme of “Beyond Walls, Beyond Borders,” we too can learn from our neighbors.

The answer is simple: the 13 charter schools in Alberta, Canada have strong records of achievement and innovation. Parents want many more charter schools. But politics and policies prevent growth. Sound familiar to your state? Probably. Yet I observed unusual differences when I keynoted the Alberta Charter Schools Conference last month that may help generate a path for growth in the future...

You may be surprised to learn that the province of Alberta, Canada has 13 charter public schools serving about 9,000 students. Perhaps more surprising is that Alberta’s chartering legislation passed in 1994, just three years after the first law passed in Minnesota. Alberta is a real pioneer! That’s why I was delighted to be invited by Dr. Garry Andrews, Executive Director of The Association of Alberta Public Charter Schools, to be keynote speaker October 29-30 for their board of directors meeting and the Alberta Charter School Conference.

High Tech High, a charter high school in California, is not an ordinary high school. After the documentary Most Likely To Succeed takes you on a journey with their 9th grade students, you’ll never look at school the same way again.

Our American K-12 education system was designed in 1893—and it still operates essentially the same today. Check out the documentary Most Likely to Succeed for the eye-opening consequences this creates for students of the 21st century. Education Week calls this film “among the best edu-documentaries ever made.”

Education meets technology in a website founded in 2006, TeachersPayTeachers.com. Education also meets Entrepreneurship...

Do you have classroom aids, lesson plans, or innovative ideas you want to share with other teachers?  Would you like to earn extra income at the same time?

What makes an effective leadership style? Top-down leadership is increasingly ineffective, says recent research (learn more in Gail Rosenblum’s column published October 10 in the Minneapolis Star Tribune). Followership, autonomy, and collaboration can make for a happier workforce and better results.

For years, top-down leadership has been the norm. The boss leads—you follow, even when evidence seems clear that the boss’ chosen path is not going anywhere.

The recent Washington state Supreme Court decision that struck down a 2012 voter-approved charter school law as unconstitutional raises this question: has this happened elsewhere? No. No other state court has ever thrown out an entire charter law.

A recent Washington state Supreme Court case created quite a kerfuffle by striking down a 2012 voter-approved charter school law in that state as unconstitutional. Chartering opponents have seized upon this as if it is somehow relevant to other charter school laws around the country.

David Osborne names four key governance differences between chartering and traditional district systems in his recent report, A Tale of Two Systems: Education Reform in Washington D.C. These differences, he says, are what make DC charter schools stronger than district schools.