Testing theories (New York Times), A broken promise to Cleveland charters? (Cleveland lain Dealer), Voting with your feet (Charleston Daily Mail) and much more in today’s Morning Shots at www.edspresso.com…

With Freedoms, Charter Schools Face Financial Risks
Voice of San Diego, CA, September 25, 2008
Charter schools were first dreamed up as hotbeds of innovation. They are public schools that are run independently by their own boards, free from school district rules and red tape.

New Effort Aims to Test Theories of Education
New York Times, NY, September 25, 2008
Now Dr. Fryer has quit his part-time post as chief equality officer of the New York City public schools to lead a $44 million effort, called the Educational Innovation Laboratory, to bring the rigor of research and development to education.

Free Market Schooling Outdoes Compulsion
Las Vegas Review, NV, September 25, 2008
Would a free market in schooling — one free of "intrusive regulation of the curricula, methods, and personnel decisions" of the schools, one in which schools compete for the tuition money of parents exercising free choice over where to send their kids — produce better results for America?

Cleveland Charter Schools Promised Title 1 Windfalls, But Lost Funding Instead
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, September 25, 2008
For a Cleveland charter school on a shoestring budget, the increase in federal funding this year looked too good to be true. Turns out, it was.

Menlo Park Academy for Gifted Students Opens
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, September 25, 2008
Menlo Park is a tuition-free, publicly funded charter school that serves cognitively gifted and academically talented students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Organizers hope to eventually add more grades.

Some Good News As School District Slims Down
Kansas City Star, MO, September 25, 2008
The Kansas City School District is a favorite target of angry and frustrated taxpayers, parents and business leaders.

Academy is Breaking Language Barriers
Gainesville Times, GA, September 25, 2008
Comprised of more than 400 students and staff from nine different countries, including Ecuador, Colombia and China, the World Language Academy on Winder Highway is breaking language barriers of the West and the East.

Get Smart Schools’ Aim: More High-Performing Institutions
Denver Post, CO, September 25, 2008
A new organization chaired by state Senate President Peter Groff seeks to dramatically increase the number of new, high-performing schools for underserved students on the Front Range.

Local Charter School Hopes Campaign Promises Pay Off
WKYC-TV, OH, September 24, 2008
Horizon Science Academy High School is one of only eight charter schools rated as excellent. The school has more than 500 students and the majority come from economically disadvantaged homes, but most graduate and go on to college.

Public Schools Do Have To Work
Charleston Daily Mail, SC, September 24, 2008
Public schools have to work for students. When they don’t, students from poor families should have the same right to seek better options that students from rich families do.

In Support of LACS
Ithaca Journal, NY, September 25, 2008
The idea that transferring funds from Ithaca High School to a new charter school would somehow be an injustice to taxpayers makes no sense. Alternative school students’ families pay taxes too, at the same rate as everyone else.

How About the Teachers?
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, September 25, 2008
After six months of failed negotiations with the School Reform Commission, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers is still without a contract. The Sept. 1 deadline has come and gone, and both sides remain at an impasse.

Loss of Students Means Lost Funding For Public Schools
Flint Journal, MI, September 25, 2008
Most area charter schools are growing while several traditional public school districts are bleeding enrollment, according to Wednesday’s pivotal student count that partly determines school funding from the state.