Published in The News Tribune, September 5, 2004

 The recent controversy over charter schools is something to welcome. While both sides of the dispute overstate what recent national test scores do and do not say about the effectiveness of charter schools, the debate over data indicates we may finally be getting serious about education policy.

The controversy started when the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) announced an apparent coverup by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).  The AFT charged that the DOE had made data unavailable on the performance of charter schools showing that these schools were “underperforming”. Continue reading →