International | School reform

After freedom, what?

Liberating schools to run their own affairs produces some great ones, but also plenty of dross. The priority now is to spread success

AS THE new school year approaches, most pupils in Detroit and New Orleans are preparing to return to desks in charter schools. First permitted by Minnesota in 1991, charter schools are found in 43 states; in a few cities they have become mainstream. Their equivalents in England, academies, were set up later but have grown faster. Just 14 years after the first one opened in London, a quarter of all English state schools, and two-thirds of secondaries, are now academies (see chart).

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “After freedom, what?”

Brave new worlds

From the August 27th 2016 edition

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