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Given a choice between working independently during classes or working in a small group, Von Steuben high school senior Maria Proano would choose the group work.

"If you get something wrong, someone else in the group can help you," Proano says, "and you can get different opinions on a problem."

Given the same choice, Von Steuben sophomore Anna Tran would work alone. In groups, she explains, sometimes one person ends up doing everything while others copy the answers. "I'd just rather do it by myself," Tran says.

As the district opens 100 new schools under Renaissance 2010, students will have more options and neighborhood schools will face greater competition. But are more school options good for kids?

For students who choose to leave their neighborhood schools, the answer is likely yes. Numerous studies conducted over the last decade indicate that students who leave traditional public schools for "choice" schools such as charters and private schools raise their achievement—even though charter schools may have lower test scores overall.

When Arthur Levine set out to study principal preparation programs at universities around the country, he expected to find problems.

"Things were worse than I imagined, in all ways," says Levine, president of Columbia University's Teachers College.

Programs for education administrators "range from inadequate to appalling," he reports, with a largely irrelevant curriculum, too many part-time faculty, and low standards for admissions and graduation. The result, writes Levine, is programs, "that fail to prepare school leaders for their jobs."