Comments on: Why a Charter School? and Related Questions http://madisonamps.org/2010/01/10/why-a-charter-school-and-related-questions/ Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:45:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Robert Godfrey http://madisonamps.org/2010/01/10/why-a-charter-school-and-related-questions/#comment-3246 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:38:25 +0000 http://madisonamps.org/?p=4262#comment-3246 I wanted to add to Thomas Mertz’s thorough take on Charter Schools with a comment that doesn’t necessarily require a second blog entry. An editorial in today’s New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/opinion/11mon3.html?ref=opinion section raises some additional points that I hope our school board continues to keep in mind. As I reported here http://madisonamps.org/2009/10/29/reform-is-in-the-air/ a Stanford study from last summer had challenged some conventional thinking about the efficacy of Charter Schools in general and was picked up by the Times as they noted how it had “startled many education specialists …[and] showed that a large number of charter schools are failing to deliver on their promises. It compared the performance of charter schools and traditional schools in 15 states and the District of Columbia and found that only about 17 percent of charters offered students a better education than traditional schools — and that 37 percent were worse.” The piece continues on with a question as to why, by and large, Charters do better in New York, comparatively, than other places. They suggest that there, there is a “rigorous mechanism for licensing charters as well as strong oversight of performance. The city also gives charter operators free space, and provides them with administrative support so that they can more easily get up and running and comply with state and federal education law” and suggests that Charters will only be effective “if they are closely monitored and held to high standards.”

I continue to remain skeptical that we have the commitment to providing a rigorous mechanism for licensing charters, monitoring their performance and providing the “extra free space.” I think that, not because I don’t think we have capable people, but simply because we have little money for any new initiatives (4 year old kindergartens for example). We are already stretched to ridiculous lengths just to maintain our current schools and programs because of the school finance malaise we highlight all the time on this blog. I worry a great deal that initiatives such as these continue as part of a trend in education for the past 50 years to become distracted by the latest loud and sparkling new band wagon to pass by in which to jump onto, while perhaps being in danger of leaving behind the essential mandate of a good public education for all its citizens in a robust democracy.

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