By Alfie Kohn Charter schools run the gamut from inspiring to wretched. But the whole idea of "publicly funded private schools," as one critic calls them, is unsettling. And the prospect of more charters managed from afar by business-like entities trying to pump up test scores is truly frightening.

By Sara Neufeld, The Baltimore Sun Jan. 28--There are toys for perfect attendance, candies for good behavior and pizza parties for improved test scores. There are principals who agree to shave their heads and sleep on the roof, if only their charges will study harder.

By Alfie Kohn "U.S. high school students are ... ignorant of things (that elementary) school students would have known a generation ago," a national magazine announced in a special report entitled Crisis in Education.

By Alfie Kohn It's time to say in a national news

By Sharon NoguchiSTAFF When 12-year-old Kelsey Carlson gets home from Graham Middle School, she hits the books.