L.A. high school has improved since charter group took over

From The New York Times: Two years after a charter school group took over Locke High School in Los Angeles, gang violence is sharply down, fewer students are dropping out, and test scores have inched upward. But progress is coming at considerable cost: an estimated $15 million over the planned four-year turnaround, largely financed by private foundations. That is more than twice the $6 million in federal turnaround money that the Department of Education has set as a cap for any single school. Skeptics say the Locke experience may be too costly to replicate.