The Promise of Citywide Charter Strategies

Charter school enrollment is on the rise in many urban areas. In fact, 56% of all public charter schools are located in urban areas, and 10 of our nation's largest school districts now have 20,000 students enrolled in public charter schools. With this growth in the charter movement, there is an increasing need for local infrastructure support through technical services, advocacy, and coordination. This report examines the potential for citywide charter strategies as a key leverage point for increasing charter school quality

Dollars for Degrees: Structuring Post-Secondary Scholarships to Increase Student Success

This report explores how funders can structure their scholarship awards and provide access to key non-financial supports to improve post-secondary persistence and completion

A Market for Success: How a Robust Service Provider Market Can Help Community Colleges Improve Student Completion

Outlines how external service providers can help community colleges enhance institutional redesign, use of data, student services and supports, and faculty development in order to remove barriers to completion, increase efficiency, and improve outcomes

Dollars for Degrees: Financial Aid and its Impact on Post-Secondary Degree Completion in Texas

Researchers have begun to investigate more deeply the specific effects of rising college costs, increasing debt, and the impact of financial aid on degree completion. Specifically, this paper describes the various sources and types of financial aid available to postsecondary students in Texas, how financial aid is packaged at different types of institutions, and the effects of financial aid types and packages on post-secondary persistence and completion. An appendix contains additional detail on federal, state, institutional and private aid sources as well as a list of the advisors, interviewees, and focus group members we spoke with during our research. While this paper focuses on financial aid in Texas given GTF's state-based purview, we believe many of the lessons are applicable across the country

School Turnaround Field Guide

Outlines approaches to turning around low-performing schools, lessons from early efforts, gaps to be filled, and critical actions to implement effective practices, create supportive policies and conditions, and build capacity and sustainability at scale