Education reform via Charter schools?

We must consider radical ideas in education reform
Jennifer Buckingham a research fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies discusses the need for reform to improve education for our most disadvantaged children.
Indigenous children who live in very remote Queensland have failure rates of 58 per cent. A further 28 per cent just meet the minimum benchmark in reading. That's a rate eight times higher than the national average.
One idea is Charter schools.
Read more here

The Charter Connection from The Centre for Education Reform provides more details on Charter schools in the US.
Charter schools are...

* innovative public schools
* designed by educators, parents or civic leaders
* open and attended by choice
* free from most rules and regulations governing conventional public schools
* and accountable for results.

Educational innovation

Books
Jousting for the new generation : challenges to contemporary schooling David Loader ; with contributions from Amanda McGraw and Mary Mason.
Camberwell, Vic. :bACER,c2007.

Journal articles
From chalkboard to keyboard. Technology innovation advance the evolution of Australian classrooms. Teacher, March 2008, p4-6.

Educational assessment and achievement

International leagues: Australia's standing in international tests, Teacher: the National Education Magazine, Feb 2008, pp 40-43.

Online tool examines large-scale assessments, NCTM bulletin, Dec 2007, p7. See the tools at www.nctm.org/resources/assessment

Restoring our edge in education, Reasearch Developments, No 18, Summer 2007, pp 7-9.

The reflective principle: Lets have our cake and eat it too (the present education system, its schools and curriculum is not delivering for all students.....), Teacher: the National Education Magazine, Dec 2007, pp 20-21.