Related Publications
May 2013This year's edition focuses on growth and innovation and pushes charter school leaders to consider whether they are fully using their flexibility and autonomy on behalf of students.
Feb 2013This brief shows how some new proposals for K-12 public education governance are complements, rather than alternatives, to the portfolio strategy.
Dec 2012This new book from Paul Hill and colleagues explains the underlying idea of the portfolio strategy.
Oct 2012This brief recaps the themes of the seventh Portfolio School District Network that was held in Seattle, WA, July 2012. It also outlines some of the supports that CRPE is providing to help districts keep moving forward.
Jun 2012This logic model outlines the premises, strategy principles, actions, and reform elements of the Portfolio School District model.
Jun 2012In this working paper, Eric Nadelstern discusses New York City's efforts to change the central office and create a system of support organizations to oversee networks of autonomous schools.
Jun 2012This case study of the implementation of Baltimore City Public Schools' portfolio strategy explores how the district's reform work aligns with CRPE’s definition of the portfolio strategy and how it compares to the approaches taken in other districts.
Mar 2012This working paper series examines the politics of portfolio school district reform, with a primary focus on the issues surrounding high school closures.
Feb 2012In January 2012, over 100 district and charter leaders gathered in New Orleans for the sixth Portfolio School District Network meeting. John White, new state superintendent of Louisiana, launched the meeting with the idea of a "portfolio mindset," one that believes that innovation comes from the ground up. This brief presents the themes that emerged from the two-day meeting, as well as next steps for the network.
Jan 2012This overview of Hopes, Fears, & Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charters Schools in 2011 introduces the key areas explored in this year's volume.
Jan 2012In this chapter Robin Lake discusses the charter school side of the emerging trend toward district/charter school collaboration.
Jan 2012This chapter offers an overview of emerging trends in the charter school landscape.
Jan 2012The 6th annual edition of Hopes, Fears, & Reality provides a clear roadmap for school districts and charter schools interested in working together to improve education options. The report explains the risks and technical challenges behind charter-district collaboration and provides powerful examples of how they can be overcome.
Jan 2012This chapter examines factors that are driving districts to collaborate with charters, what those collaborations look like, and the politics both sides must deal with.
Jan 2012In this chapter, Tom DeWire of Baltimore Public schools draws on the experience of choice enrollment and assignment plans in Baltimore, New York, and Boston to illustrate the important questions that districts need to ask when designing such systems.
Jan 2012In this chapter Parker Baxter argues that by reimagining the distribution of funding, facilities, and other district assets without regard to whether a school is a district school or a charter school, districts can strike a unique and powerful bargain with charter schools: shared resources and shared responsibility.
Oct 2011This one-pager outlines the 7 key components upon which the portfolio strategy is built.
Sep 2011As states look at building their own recovery school districts, this essay outlines key lessons from Louisiana’s leaders.
Jun 2011This working paper reports on a meeting in which representatives from several states gathered for a candid discussion of the lessons learned from Louisiana's dramatic school turnaround efforts.
Jun 2011Drawing from the experiences of high-performing charter school networks, this white paper examines why districts struggle to close the achievement gap, what portfolio district leaders can find when they look outside the traditional system for gap-closing solutions, and how new schools are able to do what traditional schools have not.
Jun 2011A growing number of urban districts across the country are pursuing a "portfolio strategy," profoundly changing the role of the school district and its relationship to schools in order to bring about dramatically better outcomes for students. This interim assessment summarizes the significant findings from the first three years of CRPEs study of the development of the portfolio strategy in districts nationwide.
May 2011In February 2011, the Center on Reinventing Public Education convened a conference to help districts implementing school choice under the U.S. Department of Education’s Voluntary Public School Choice program. This paper summarizes the two-day conversation and lessons from the discussion.
May 2011Over the past two decades, some district leaders have asked urban universities to develop emergency strategies to rescue low-performing schools. How do universities and districts develop effective relationships that align with their missions?
Feb 2011This report focuses on the evidence to date on how students with special needs fair under choice, the typical challenges and tensions that emerge for special populations under district choice systems, the types of strategies districts are employing to make school choice work for unique students, and promising new ideas that have yet to be tried.
Jan 2011In 2010, New York City’s Department of Education created the Innovation Zone to employ cutting edge technology to solve students’ most persistent learning problems. This study analyzes the iZone's impact so far.
Nov 2010A look at New York City and Washington, D.C., this paper shows how portfolio—and perhaps traditional—districts can transform talent management from a bureaucratic staffing system into a core leadership function.
Jul 2010This paper, one of a series of papers designed to assist leaders in portfolio district reform efforts, argues that effective, strategic communications policies and practices are a key element of successful portfolio reform.
May 2010Leading districts are creating multiple pathways to graduation that might keep students from dropping out. Early results are promising.
Mar 2010The CRPE founder isn’t afraid to challenge existing institutions when they fail to serve kids, and respects the evidence, no matter what it says. A look at Hill's legacy.
Oct 2009Study on four urban school districts experimenting with new school designs and new ways of holding schools accountable for performance by implementing a "portfolio strategy."
Aug 2009As portfolio districts take on duties they were not designed for, this report offers guidance on how to manage some of the most complicated tasks.
Jul 2009This report surveys the broad transportation landscape and conducts in-depth work with families in two cities to determine what role transportation plays in parents' school decisions, and how districts might address related issues.
Jun 2008This report analyzes the main reasons charter authorizers close schools, and how districts can use those closures as part of an overall improvement strategy that aligns with and reinforces their core values.
Jan 2007Researchers with CRPE's Doing School Choice Right initiative determine what drives the school-choice decisions made by 800 low- to moderate-income families in three cities.
Jun 2006This paper investigates the effects of implementing CSR models on student achievement.
Apr 2006This report presents the results of an analysis of legal, regulatory, and policy barriers to high school redesign in California.
Apr 2006This working paper evaluates the effect of implementing one of three prominent Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) models on student achievement and discipline outcomes, using a matched sample of Florida model and non-model schools.
Feb 2006This paper details the portfolio management approach—a new vision for education reform that fosters innovation, adaptability, and performance.
Jan 2006This essay is part of a collection of essays published by The Urban Institute that assess the challenges facing New Orleans and recommend tested models for making the city's social infrastructure stronger and more equitable than it was before Katrina.
Sep 2005This Ed Week commentary calls for a coherent strategy for rebuilding public education in New Orleans post-Katrina.
Aug 2005This paper argues that decentralizing decisionmaking authority to schools is a reform worthy of a new look, despite the perceived failure of earlier school-based management (SBM) efforts to improve student performance.
Jan 2005This report provides a practical discussion of what is required to develop a school district management guide, along with an actual guide built on evidence-based indicators.
Oct 2004Edited by James Harvey and Paul T. Hill, this book identifies roles for foundations and civic groups in defining strategies for big-city school reform, and ensuring that promised changes are implemented. This is the third and final book in a series on big city school reform initiated by the Brookings Institution.
Jul 2003This is the research brief for the second report in the Center's leadership series; an examination of large-district school superintendents.
Jul 2003Based on a survey and on interviews with superintendents from the nation's largest urban districts, this study explores the working life of urban superintendents. This report is second in second in the Center's leadership series.
Apr 2003This Education Next article addresses how problems within the public education system particularly affect urban children.
Apr 2003This article looks at why we should devolve decisionmaking in schools. Hill recommends three changes in state laws to create a public education system in which families and teachers have options, schools have a good balance of accountability and freedom of action, and school boards have fewer temptations but enough powers to provide good schools.
Dec 2002This report summarizes the functions of school boards, identifies some of the problems with big city school boards, and suggests options for reorienting boards around the trusteeship of the children they serve.
Apr 2002In this commentary, Paul Hill and James Harvey look at how urban superintendents can get beyond misleading platitudes to confront real problems.
Dec 2001In this essay for the Public Education Network, Paul Hill discusses the role local education funds can play in building social capital in schools
Jul 2000This commentary by Paul Hill, published by Brookings, suggests that failed school systems need to create hybrid reform strategies drawn from the strong parts of various reform proposals, rather than relying on "name brand" reforms.
Jul 2000This essay written for the Hoover Institution looks at new trends in education initiatives undertaken by private corporations and individuals.
Jun 2000An increasingly pressing issue impacting the quality of educational services in the United States is the country's growing need for new public schools equipped to meet the unique demands of this generation's students and policy
Jan 2000This volume is the second in a trilogy of books designed to describe the politics of reform in urban school systems and clarify reform options available to mayors and other community leaders who want to improve school performance dramatically. It Takes a City develops lessons from the reform experiences in six American cities which have made concerted attempts to improve their public schools: Boston, Memphis, New York City District #2, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Dec 1999How can we move toward a public education system that can supply good schools for city children? This chapter presents two discussions: first, an analysis of the practices and attitudes that now prevent big cities from providing a supply of strong schools; and second, a proposal about how cities, with the help of state governments and state and local civic elites can build a new public education system.
Dec 1998This book identifies the essential elements of reform strategies that can transform school performance in big cities beset by poverty, social instability, racial isolation, and labor unrest. It also suggests ways that local leaders can assemble the necessary funding and political support to make such strategies work. This is the first volume in a trilogy of books designed to describe the politics of reform in urban school systems and clarify reform options available to mayors and other community leaders who want to improve school performance dramatically.
Dec 1997A heated debate is raging over our nation’s public schools and how they should be reformed, with proposals ranging from imposing national standards to replacing public education altogether with a voucher system for private schools. Combining decades of experience in education, this book, published by the University of Chicago Press, proposes an innovative approach to solving the problems of our school system and find a middle ground between these extremes.
Aug 1997What, if anything can now be said about whether decentralization of public school systems is possible and, if so, under what conditions is it likely to lead to changes in instruction and improvements in student outcomes? This paper from the Journal of Education and Urban Society attempts to answer this and other questions.
Aug 1990This paper analyzes big-city high schools: how they function and how the education of the low-income minority youth in these high schools can be improved.
