Experts Warn of Murky Results From Charter-Driven Schools

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Experts Warn of Murky Results From Charter-Driven Schools

By ANNA GRONEWOLD, ASSOCIATED PRESS RALEIGH, N.C. — Jun 17, 2016, 12:51 PM ET

North Carolina could hand over some of its lowest performing elementary schools to charter school operators in an effort to reverse dismal test scores in more than half the state's counties.

Similar aggressive reforms have taken hold in New Orleans and Tennessee, and states such as Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia are considering prescribing charter management for their failing schools. But results have been mixed so far, with opponents saying researchers and educators have found little proof that the charter companies are the remedy.

North Carolina's proposal, which passed in the House earlier this month, would create a separate district for elementary schools that have fallen to the bottom 5 percent of the state's grading system for at least three consecutive years.

Thousands of North Carolina children attend schools the state has found nose-diving in both growth and achievement. Last year, 93 schools had less than 5 percent of students testing at grade level in more than one subject, according to North Carolina Department of Public Instruction data. The bill's supporters say rural locations and limited resources trap students at schools where they are doomed to fail.

The proposal would begin with a five-school, five-year pilot program, and a newly appointed Achievement School District superintendent would choose charter companies with successful histories to run the schools. That would allow them hiring and firing powers and exempt them from state requirements such as oversight and evaluations from local school boards.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/experts-warn-murky-results-charter-driven-schools-39933570

[Raastan]

1. No surprise.

Charters are a scam for privatization, I.e., profit taking.

They have failed in Indiana, and will fail elsewhere.

[MichiganVote]

2. For profit education to replace a mandated free and appropriate education. Nuff' said.

[Igel]

3. It's for schools that for 3 years in a row have 5% or less of their kids testing at grade level.

That means the kids are at least a year behind while getting their FAPE. Most kids that are a year behind have trouble catching up; they often fall farther behind. At that point you have a choice: Do you keep the curriculum at their level and try to catch up or keep on going?

Both have risks. If you fall behind, there's no guarantee you won't need to get farther and farther behind. After all, the kids fell below grade level at some point, and whatever is dragging them down (or slowing them up) may still be at work. But if you do that, what do you do with the inevitable GT kids, the 5% that are at grade level. Too often "school reform" doesn't include the top tier of kids because in an egalitarian society we have to lift up the bottom ... and if we let the top kids not succeed quite as much, equality is easier to attain. In some states that's a large portion of the closing of the achievement gap--the bottom 20% has continued to improve at the same rate they have for 20 years, but the upper 20%'s improvement's slowed.

Anyway, the public school system isn't working for these kids. They've tried fixing them. It's still not working. These are going to be rural kids and minority kids (and if we're talking black belt, it's going to be both).

Some charter schools do well. Others are truly abysmal. Many are just average. If nothing else, they often provide diversity in an otherwise unimaginative or homogeneous school system. If we can't fix the problem, we might as well pat ourselves on the back for rearranging the deck chairs. Over. And over.

[MichiganVote]

4. Uh huh. Do you even know what the average reading level of HS students is?

Or for that matter, at what level adults generally read at? Did you know, for example, that most adults read at a 5th-6th grade level?

The society is not working for lower performing students. Not the schools. Most of these students are economically behind long before they are educationally behind. Neither Charter or Public schools will fix that.

Face reality. The fact that Charter's or public schools are "just average" is entirely acceptable. Average is where most people, children included, function. "Average" will likely not place a student in med or law school but it can afford a decent job/wage.