Charter School Achievement: What We Know

Edweek.org has a live chat tomorrow that looks interesting:

Charter School Achievement: What We Know
<http://enews.edweek.org/GoNow/a15864a169796a387543994a2> When: Wed., August 15, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., Eastern time  
 

Submit questions in advance here <http://enews.edweek.org/GoNow/a15864a169796a387543994a1> .
 
Research on charter schools and the students who attend them  has found mixed results, but advocates say they are part of a promising  experiment that is worth continuing.
 
Some 4,000 charter schools are now operating across the  country, many of them serving low-income students and children from minority  groups. As their numbers continue to grow, the public but largely independent  schools are drawing more scrutiny and calls.
 
Some 4,000 charter schools are now operating across the  country, many of them serving low-income students and children from minority  groups. As their numbers continue to grow, the public but largely independent  schools are drawing more scrutiny and calls for greater  accountability.
 
Research on charter schools and the students who attend them  has found mixed results, but advocates say they are part of a promising  experiment that is worth continuing.
 
Our guest, charter school expert Bryan C. Hassel, will answer  your questions about charter schools, what the research says about how well  they are doing, and the challenges for improving and expanding the model.  
 
Join us for this informative chat.
 
Submit questions in advance here <http://enews.edweek.org/GoNow/a15864a169796a387543994a1> .

Guest:
Bryan C. Hassel is co-director of Public  Impact, a Chapel Hill, N.C., education policy and consulting firm. He has done  research on student achievement and accountability at charter schools. He is a  co-author of Charter School Achievement: What We Know, a review of  scholarly studies comparing charter vs. district school achievement for the  National Alliance of Public Charter Schools. Along with numerous other  articles and monographs, he is author of The Charter School  Challenge, published by the Brookings Institution (1998) and co-author of  Picky Parent Guide: Choose Your Child's School with Confidence (The  Elementary Years K-6), published by Armchair Press (2004).