April 23: Arne’s Stealin' Our Stuff….

...and paying a compliment to the charter model

Although the new McKinsey study on the economic impact of the achievement gap was the main event at yesterday’s  National Press Club shindig (and an essential read), it was Arne Duncan’s remarks that had me floored. Either he’s been sneaking unnoticed into my charter-conference speeches in places like Decatur, Illinois and Waukesha, Wisconsin, or, better, he’s basically ready to adopt the charter model of accountability on a grand scale.

I’ve tried for the past few years to make the point that “accountability” doesn’t just mean closing bad schools, but that you have to think of three “tiers.”  At the top is a band of maybe 10-15% of charters that are hitting it out of the park, and they should be allowed to go forth and multiply (which means getting rid of caps). At the bottom is a narrower band of charters that should just go away. (Or “too many lousy charters” as my colleague Todd Zeibarth says in a great piece in today’s Wall Street Journal.) And in the vast middle, there are maybe 60-70% of charters that are doing well,  making progress, not yet great – and needing more than just moral support (i.e., close the financing gap that keeps one hand tied behind their backs.)

Accountability is that whole ball of wax. That’s the charter model.

Duncan, yesterday, used almost exactly the same language to describe what he wants to do about public schooling in general. Replicate the top, support the vast middle, and lop off the bottom one percent every year - so that in a few years you will have eliminated that whole swath of chronically underperforming schools and replaced them with selections from the top tier. Here’s a video of the speech, although you may need to crank the volume to hear it.

OK, so perhaps variations on this theme have been around for awhile. There’s Duncan’s own Renaissance 2010 program in Chicago. And NLCB wanted to shut down failing schools (although it provided timid districts too many escape routes).

But here’s the EdSec, not only  talking the talk in precise terms, but armed with $5 billion in discretionary funds to make it happen. Is charter innovation about to spread, big time?

NS