Growing Evidence that Charter Schools Are Failing

[unhappycamper]

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/07/06/growing-evidence-charter-schools-are-failing



'While there's little difference in the overall performance of charter schools and public schools,' explains Buchheit, 'charters are riddled with fraud and identified with a lack of transparency that leads to more fraud.'

Growing Evidence that Charter Schools Are Failing
Paul Buchheit
Monday, July 06, 2015

~snip~

Charters Are Underperforming

The inadequacies of charter schools have been confirmed by other recent studies, one of them by CREDO itself, which found that in comparison to traditional public schools "students in Ohio charter schools perform worse in both reading and mathematics." Another recent CREDO study of California schools reached mixed results, with charters showing higher scores in reading but lower scores in math.

In a study of Chicago's public schools, the University of Minnesota Law School determined that "Sadly the charter schools, which on average score lower that the Chicago public schools, have not improved the Chicago school system, but perhaps made it even weaker."

In general, as concluded by the nonpartisan Spencer Foundation and Public Agenda, "There is very little evidence that charter and traditional public schools differ meaningfully in their average impact on students' standardized test performance." Another report from Data First, part of the Center for Public Education, stated that "the majority of charter schools do no better or worse than traditional public schools."

But there's a lot of data that leans toward "worse" rather than "better." A Brookings report showed underperformance in Arizona's charter schools. An In the Public Interest group found that an analyst for the District of Columbia "could not provide a single instance in which its strategy of transferring a low-performing school to a charter management organization had resulted in academic gains for the students." The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that "Students in most Minnesota charter schools are failing to hit learning targets and are not achieving adequate academic growth." Over 85 percent of Ohio's charter students were in schools graded D or F in 2012–2013. In the much-heralded New Orleans charter experiment, the Investigative Fund found that "eight years after Hurricane Katrina...seventy-nine percent of RSD charters are still rated D or F by the Louisiana Department of Education."

[mopinko]

1. i always find it amusing

that the people who complain about high stakes testing, and its mis-measurement of the common schools are the first to condemn charter schools with the same yardstick.
in point of fact, standardized testing is an even worse measure for charter schools. at least in the common schools it is basically aligned with the curriculum. at charters, especially those that are the least like the common schools, it could be almost completely irrelevant.

common schools-teaching to the test, bad
charter schools-teaching to the test, imperative.

university of minnesota examining chicago charter schools? did they even come here?
jeebus.

[TBF]

2. They were never about education -

they are for profit. That should tell you all you need to know.

[Igel]

4. Restaurants were never about food.

They are for profit.


I think that might be true sometimes. Often it's not true. What is true is the means to the goal almost always requires generating profit, but it's possible to set up non-profit charters. Or state-run charters.

The anti-charter folk don't like those, either. There can be only one monolithic public school system.

For some, it's because then there are strong unions.

For others, it's because then there is strong government and political control. That might mean that the content is rigorous, or career oriented, or traditional, or culturally relevant. It might mean that the right social or political message is taught or at least the wrong ones are not taught. There's a long history of public schools being a means of social engineering and "social change." And a shorter history of schools being the means for economic advancement.

[TBF]

5. Or perhaps the purpose of school should be education -

although I realize capitalists do not understand anything other than profit and economic advancement.

[Starry Messenger]

3. They are doing great at what their owners intend them to do.

Siphon off tax money.