Education Commons^™

A Primer On Charter Schools And The Law, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The charter school movement began in 1991, when Minnesota enacted the first law authorizing their creation. To date, 41 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico permit the creation of charter schools, according to the National Charter School Resource Center (n.d.).

Charter schools, public schools of choice, are usually operated as not-for-profit institutions independently or occasionally in conjunction with public organizations, such as colleges and universities. As such, they have generally survived challenges to their constitutionality.

This column provides a primer for education leaders on the legal basics associated with the operations of charter schools. It does not …

Collaborative Assessment: Middle School Case Study, Paul T. Parkinson

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Utilizing a participant observer research model, a case study of the efficacy of a collaborative assessment methodology within a middle school social studies class was conducted. A review of existing research revealed that students' perceptions of assessment, evaluation, and accountability influence their intrinsic motivation to learn. A collaborative assessment methodology was developed to provide a means to involve the students in the decision-making processes of instruction: lesson planning, goal and objective identification, assessment, and evaluation. Changing extrinsic motivators like assessment and evaluation into intrinsic motivators was the ultimate goal of the collaborative assessment methodology. The collaborative assessment methodology utilized a …