The Charter Blog
31 May 2006
The End is Near!
More evidence of the Capone Theory of Charter Ascendancy...
Chartering continues to expand, especially in troubled urban areas, and at some point district school systems will be forced to fundamentally change what they do and possibly even disappear. The three questions we need to seriously grapple with are:
1. What percentage of the market do charters need in a city to bring this about?
2. Apart from issues of scale, what are the specific events/activities/characteristics of a charter-district relationship that will presage the district's demise?
3. How will a district's ultimate shift/change/collapse play out?
Some people have talked or written about the first question, and all of them have done an awful job. They just guess. I hope someone does some serious work here.
The third question is the most interesting and important, but unfortunately it's also probably unanswerable. There just aren't great analogies to which we can look for guidance. If someone can think of some (maybe a utility going under?), let me know.
The second question is almost as fascinating, and I have some thoughts about it. This story out of Dayton is what I have in mind by "tax evasion charges instead of murder raps." This isn't glitzy, but it's leading to a clear conclusion. A system that continues to lose students every year and then deals with it by raising taxes is on an unsustainable trajectory.
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May 30 2006
Charters top Buffalo's list
Comment »30 May 2006
Charters Get Political
Is the tide turning?
A few events suggest a new era in the charter movement. For the first 15 years charters have largely been on the defensive: responding to negative stories, countering attacks by opponents, etc. But things might be changing.
In New York, some charter advocates raised a good bit of money and are running ads against a notorious charter opponent in the state legislature. This is the only way to show that charterdom won't be bullied any longer; opponents can no longer attack with impunity. But, as the article points out, some within the charter movement are getting nervous.
In a related matter, Eduwonk points out that several charter advocates are taking the necessity of politics personally.
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26 May 2006
Teacher Quality vs. Systemic Change
My educational reform can beat up your educational reform...
The Center for Teaching Quality, which is apparently not the same things as the National Council on Teacher Quality, proves the importance of good teaching by showing what happens when one wasn't taught reading comprehension.
Obviously spoiling for a fight, Scott Emerick misinterprets this post as an attack on the value of solid teacher preparation. Hogwash.
Here's the background: In the latest of its anti-charter screeds, the NYT wrote "the only way to improve public schooling is to provide well-trained teachers and orderly schools." I called that antiquated and condescending. My only regret is that I didn't also call it silly.
Appalled, Mr. Emerick goes on and on about how teaching quality does matter. On that, he and I agree. Teachers are exceptionally important.
But the mistake that both he and the Times make is in asserting that teacher quality is all that matters. As he writes, "Sorry, but decades of research says that the way to improve schools is in fact well-trained teachers." (emphasis added)
That's not the case. While it's an important ingredient, it's not enough. Or in fancy language: it's necessary but not sufficient.
In one sense, our disagreement may be just a function of coming from different perspectives. We both agree that systems and teachers matter. I start with the former and progress to the latter; his path is the other way around. But I think experience shows that systems matter more.
A great teacher can't do her job if the school day and year are too short, if her pay system creates disincentives for excellence, if she has no flexibility in her work, if the jobs of her lousy colleagues are protected, if school culture is irreparably broken, if mediocrity is tolerated, if adults aren't held accountable for results, and so on. Also, keep in mind that improving teacher quality has been a favored child of education reform efforts for eons and tens of thousands of schools are still outrageously bad. We've only been in the business of questioning education's institutional arrangements since the early 1990's.
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25 May 2006
New Charter Report
With report on Florida, Education Sector continues excellent charter series begun at PPI...
A new report from Education Sector, written by the superb research team of Hassel, Terrell, and Kowal, takes a closer look at chartering in FL.
This is the latest installment in a series that has looked into many of the other major charter states. Given the divergence of school quality, laws, and political enviornments between states, this series is a must for those interested in chartering.
Major themes in the new report will be familiar to many: lots of FL charters are in big, urban districts, the state's charters are underfunded, district authorizing is lousy, and accountability is tougher to implement in practice than to support in theory. A finding peculiar to FL (and a couple other "sun belt" states) is of particular interest: chartering has turned out to be a great way to quickly open new public schools in areas experiencing swift population growth.
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May 25 2006
Finance provisions of NH charter law improved
Comment »May 24 2006
Improving charter finance in NH
Comment »Editorial opposes FL charter law change
Comment »23 May 2006
Klein Opines on NY's Cap
"Help me help you," says NYC's schools chief...
NYC's Chancellor makes a strong pitch in today's NY Post for removing the charter cap. Nothing groundbreaking in the substance, though it's all spot on: charters are outperforming traditional public schools in the city, charters are teaching other schools important lessons, parents in disadvantaged areas need other options; the cap is standing in our way.
What is groundbreaking though is the passion of a big city education leader telling the legislature, "We need some new, independent public schools, because many of those I'm controlling aren't good enough." That shows courage and humility, not to mention common sense.
Incidentally, he's precisely right about the quality of NYC's charter sector. And we should keep in mind that charter caps are stunting growth elsewhere, too.
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22 May 2006
NAEP Gets Close and Personal
In 2005, NAEP took an in-depth look at 390 charters...
In addition to their famous, nearly annual, nationwide evaluations of American K-12 education (and their sometimes infamous surveys of charter school achievement), the good folks at NAEP spent a little extra time last year trying to learn more about charter operations. The results were recently released, though to little fanfare. However, our resident super-wonk, Todd Z, found some extremely interesting results--some flattering, some not so flattering.
If you don't want to be the only one at the next dinner party ignorant of the "Sixth Year Dip" and unable to talk knowledgeably about "faux charters," then give this quick summary a read (it's less than two full pages but chock full of valuable stuff).
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