Few would deny that state-run juvenile detention facilities are flawed. But a Bloomberg bid to take control of some of those sites has raised a new set of issues. more>

Bloomberg's 2009 proposal came as the Obama administration was ramping up its Promise Neighborhoods program, built on the Harlem Children's Zone template, a program that has received strong support from the mayor. But now, the federal program has shifted focus. more>

The involvement of a curriculum-providing company called K12 Classroom LLC – whose chairman, Andrew H. Tisch, is the brother-in-law of New York State Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch – could be a test of the state's new charter-schools law which forbids for-profit charter school management. more>

Although the Obama Administration had budgeted $210 million to fund the nationwide Promise Neighborhoods initiative – modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone – House and Senate negotiations have trimmed that amount to $20 million. This funding cut comes on the heels of a recently released report that questions the impact of such models.

VIDEO :: Harlem Program Scrutinized more>

A pioneering plan by a nationally known anti-poverty group to establish a charter school at a public housing complex was greeted at a Wednesday night community meeting with more skepticism than enthusiasm.

VIDEO :: Lindsey Christ of NY1 reports on plans to build a $100 million charter school on the grounds of the St. Nicholas Houses in Harlem. more>

Although Mayor Bloomberg's current five-year capital plan would allocate $200 million for the new charters schools, reports carried out by multiple institutes and the DOE tend to question their efficiency.

VIDEO :: From Fora.TV, Harvard economics professor Caroline Hoxby discusses several differences between charter and public schools. more>

The gains celebrated by Bloomberg and Klein – and carefully promoted by the Department of Education press office – are challenged by outcomes on national achievement tests, largely regarded by academics and researchers as the "gold standard" of educational assessment.  more>

Historically, educators lead departments of education. But of the 16 individuals on Klein's leadership team, only two are educators.

AUDIO :: WNYC's Brian Lehrer talks with parent activists about mayoral control of schools. more>

Despite the high priority the DOE has placed on closing the achievement gap between the races, the city's specialized, most competitive high school programs remain disproportionately Asian and white in a public school system that's 70 percent black and Hispanic. more>