Research suggests that public schools serving advantaged students are more likely than other public schools to benefit from private fundraising. The reviewed report fails to conclusively demonstrate two key claims: that schools serving wealthy student bodies are more likely to have private fundraising groups, and that larger shares of white students are associated with increased private spending. Nonetheless, the report's approach of calculating per-pupil...

For decades, politicians have struggled to make educational opportunity more widely avail able and less tied to where a child's parents can afford to live. The reviewed Bellwether Education Partners' recent report attempts to examine the availability of low-income rental units in school districts to understand whether districts in the largest 200 metropolitan areas are accessible to families in poverty. While the report's focus on the intersection...

K12 Inc. enrolls more public school students than any other private education management organization in the U.S. Much has been written about K12 Inc. (referred to in this report simply as "K12") by financial analysts and investigative journalists because it is a large, publicly traded company and is the dominant player in the operation and expansion of full-time virtual schools. This report provides a new perspective on the nation's largest virtual...

Summit Public Schools has aggressively marketed its Summit Learning Platform to schools across the United States since 2015. As a result, the Summit Learning Program is now one of the most prominent digital personalized learning programs in the United States. Summit Learning Program is available to potential "partner" schools as a free, off-the-shelf, personalized learning program. Summit's marketing message trades on the alleged success of its schools....

A summary of the larger report "Discipline Policies, Successful Schools, and Racial Justice." Each year, more than 3.25 million K-12 students are suspended at least once. African American students are suspended three times as often as white students.Hispanic students and Native American students are also suspended at higher rates than white students. This paper presents the facts about the following myths: (1) Suspending disruptive students is necessary...

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students face a unique set of safety concerns each day. Over 85% report being harassed because of their sexual or gender identity, and over 20% report being physically attacked. Far too often teachers and administrators do nothing in response. In part because of this, the suicide rate for LGBT students continues to be 3-4 times higher than that of their straight counterparts, and in some parts of the...