Sizing Up the Charter School Movement
It's National Charter Schools Week, and that means lots of chatter in Washington, D.C., about whether charter schools hurt or improve public education. It also means lots of parents asking how they can get their kids off charter school wait lists. That's what one parent did at a news conference this morning when the man half-jokingly asked the president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools if he could make a couple of phone calls to his daughter's would-be charter school. The question made me think about doing a future piece that offers suggestions for those anxious parents. But for now, let's focus on some developments in the charter school movement.
Nelson Smith, the president of the alliance, who—by the way—empathized with the parent of the wait-listed child (but said nothing of using his position to help the man's daughter), had some findings from a recent poll to share at today's event. The organization, which favors the expansion of charter schools, conducted a March poll of 800 registered voters and found a majority of them want more public school options. Interestingly, nearly half of those polled said they are "unsure" about charter schools. After learning from the folks conducting the poll that charter schools are public schools, a majority of the respondents said they had an interest in enrolling their children in one.
U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois also came to bat for charter schools. The Democratic lawmaker took a few minutes from a hearing on the sluggish economy to attend the news conference and talk up a bill of his that would authorize $300 million in new funding for charter schools. Under his proposal, families of students in failing schools would be able to transfer their children to nearby charter schools. President Bush has championed a similar proposal called the Pell Grants for Kids Act that would allow families to send their children to nearby public or private schools. Emanuel's bill doesn't include funding for families to switch to private schools. Taxpayer money, he said, should stay in the public school system.
A little backgrounder on charter schools: There are 1.2 million students who attend charter schools. Most of them are in the "Big Six" charter school states of California, Arizona Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas. The majority are minority students and low income. New Orleans is the city with the highest concentration of charter schools. Charter schools, which have been around since the 1990s, are controversial because, among other things, critics say they take needed dollars away from traditional public schools. Some studies have challenged whether in fact charter school students perform superior to their peers in traditional public schools.
But don't tell California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that. Under his governorship, the number of charter schools in the state has increased by more than 50 percent. The former Hollywood action star, along with U.S. Sen. Thomas Carper of Delaware, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Colorado State Sen. Peter Groff, are being recognized for their support of charter schools at an awards ceremony tonight. Perhaps they will have some advice for parents desperate to get their child off a charter school's wait list.
Tags: public schools | charter schools
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Charter schools -- all hype, little benefit
Charter schools have had 15 years to prove themselves -- and have not done so. They do not outperform traditional public schools, despite the massive advantages they've had (such as megamillions in private philanthropy poured into them and an unbelievable amount of gushing by the gullible press).
Just like traditional public schools, some charters are great, some are dismal and most are somewhere in between.
The big promise of charter schools was that they would "pioneer innovations" for grateful traditional public schools to emulate. But over the 15 years of charter schools' existence, even the most avid charter enthusiast can't name a single innovation "pioneered" in a charter school that didn't already exist in traditional public schools.
The big attraction for charter schools to those parents on the waiting lists (though more about that in a minute) is simple: Charter schools only enroll students by request. No students are assigned to a charter school by default.
That means the most dysfunctional, alienated, low-functioning, high-need students from dysfunctional, alienated, low-functioning, high-need families do not apply and do not attend. Those students are dumped on the traditional public school down the street, to which the charter then proclaims itself superior.
And despite that, again, charter schools do not outperform traditional public schools.
Meanwhile, if the traditional public school down the street didn't have to enroll the dysfunctional, alienated, low-functioning, high-need students from dysfunctional, alienated, low-functioning, high-need families, it would be a whole different place.
And about those waiting list claims -- of course some well-thought-of charter schools do have waiting lists. But as a parent volunteer education wonk who has followed the charter movement closely and with a skeptical eye, I've double-checked some of those claims (something the press doesn't seem to think to do). It's easy1 Just call up the school that told you about its "long waiting list" and ask if it has a spot for your kindergartner/sixth-grader/ninth-grader! Bet you'll be surprised to find out they can enroll your child right now.
The charter school wait list claims, in other words, are often hooey. And so are the claims about uniformly great success and amazing innovations. They're well-funded hooey (ask the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools), but they're still hooey.
-- Caroline, San Francisco public school parent, advocate, volunteer and blogger, and charter-school skeptic
Charter Schools
Hurrah for those backing charter schools. I have been tutoring and teaching dyslexic kids for many years. I use a method that has been proven (in many districts who are advanced enough to try it) to be 100% effective. Yet the public schools offer NO, NONE, NADA, help for these children, along with others with similiar reading problems. These kids are usually average or above average
intelligence, many are minorities, and yet students such as these are found in every culture. The old public school heirachies, are totally resistant to change.
Unwilling to even have these methods investigated, and continue to let these
great go down thru the cracks, thinking that they were "born stupid".
Viva Charter Schools, Christian Schools, etc. Im for the pell funding going to all schools who are meeting state requirements. Let the Public Schools start moving then. Praise the Lord.
Charter schools dump special-ed kids
Actually, charter schools are notorious for underserving special-ed students -- even their strongest advocates sheepishly admit that. (Private/parochial schools too, obviously.) Just correcting that misinformation. .
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