Standards and choice, say the authors of this very brief policy brief, should go hand-in-hand in raising educational achievement. Robert Holland and Dan Soifer of the Lexington Institute applaud Virginia schools for increasing the number of students who have passed the state's rigorous Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment tests. But pockets of underachievement remain and, because Virginia's charter law is so restrictive, these students have few options to find schools that can help them pass. Note: next week the Thomas B. Fordham Institute will release a report grading state charter authorizers in states with serious charter programs. Virginia's law is so meager the state didn't even get graded. Policy makers, take note.
"How a strong charter law can help Virginia's struggling students and schools," by Robert Holland and Dan Soifer, The Lexington Institute, May 27, 2003