The Charter Blog
9 May 2008
US Senate Resolution Recognizing National Charter Schools Week
Thanks to Senator Landrieu (who introduced last year's resolution) for again introducing the Senate Resolution recognizing National Charter Schools Week.
Also, thanks to Senator Alexander, Senator Lieberman, Senator Burr, Senator Vitter, Senator Gregg, Senator Sununu, Senator Allard, Senator Isakson, and Senator Carper for co-sponsoring the resolution!
For the House Resolution, click here.
For the White House Proclamation, click here.
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8 May 2008
Chicago's Charters Producing Results
So, RAND’s got a new study out on charter high schools in Chicago.
There is lots of interesting stuff here, and I definitely encourage folks to take aread.
The big highlight from the study is that the average eighth-grade charter student in Chicago that goes to high school in a multi-grade charter high school (those serving students in grades 7-12, 6-12 or K-12) outperforms the average traditional school 8th-grader by:
- approximately half a point in composite ACT score (for which the median score for the students included in the analysis is 16)
- 7 percentage points in the probability of graduating form high school, and
- 11 percentage points in the likelihood of enrolling in college.
Like so many other intriguing studies, this one proposes a number of great new questions for researchers to explore, but the one I’m most interested in is why multi-grade charter high schools appear to improve graduation rates. I sure have a guess, and it’s a simple one.
Middle school isn’t easy and puberty’s no fun. But, those charter schools that start with a 6th grade class and add a grade a year (with the initial class of students moving up to the new grade) are able to work with students within the same high-expectations culture for seven years. Plus, by the time the first class graduates, the school has had time to get its legs under it. And we know from numerous studies that the longer a charter is open, the better it performs.
A final note: the study also looked at the old saw that charters “cream students.” Again, as in so many other studies, the authors
found that charters were not “skimming the cream”, or taking the best students.
Kudos to Chicago’s charters for doing what it takes to get their students graduated from high school and enrolled in college. They are changing their city’s and the nation’s expectations for all public schools.
BG
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Mr. Dann's Troubles
Although this editorial approvingly cites Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann's overreaching in the matter of charter schools, we link it here because -- well, the rest of the movement might want to know what's going on in the Buckeye State. Apparently the law of karma is kicking in; as the editorial indicates, the only question seems to be whether the exit path is impeachment or resignation. NS
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7 May 2008
US House Resolution Recognizing National Charter Schools Week
Thanks again to Mr. Boustany from Louisiana for introducing the 2008 National Charter Schools Week Resolution in the US House of Representatives!
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28 Apr 2008
Watch Newark
Funders Ante Up for Charters
An amazing collection of national and local funders has joined forces to create a new $25 million fund supporting the charter community in Newark. The city's already home to some of the state's highest-performing charters -- North Star, Robert Treat, and KIPP Team among them. And like every other chartering city, other schools fall along a spectrum of performance. Happily, this new fund will not only make it possible for high-flyers to serve more students, but will also help the middling schools with teacher
recruitment, leadership development, and other supports. Given the strong backing of Mayor Cory Booker, this will be a great experiment in lifting all boats -- improving not only the size and quality of Newark's charter community, but also accelerating reform of the traditional system.
It's also another illustration of the galvanic role being played by national and local foundations in pursuing quality growth. NYC's Center for Charter Schools Excellence was launched with $40 million in mostly Gotham-based funding. KIPP's planned Houston expansion is made possible by the Fisher Fund and other national groups, but also by a healthy dose of Texas money.
Great to see that in this latest instance, there's serious attention to the non-networked charters that, nationally, still make up about 80% of our movement.
For more on the Newark fund, here's their own new website: www.ncsfund.org
NS
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21 Apr 2008
Unions Attack Charter Facilities Plan
As night follows day, the Los Angeles teachers' union has launched a scorched-earth campaign to derail the accord reach by LAUSD and the California Charter Schools Association, giving charters space they're entitled to under California's Prop 39. Here's the full story, but Alliance Vice-Chair Caprice Young, who heads the CCSA, wins the argument by outing the union's real fear:
"When [union members are] teaching side by side next to charter schools, they're going to see that they can be treated like
professionals, that they can have control over the curriculum, that they can be engaged with the students in ways they've always
desired, and they're going to want that freedom."
NS
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8 Apr 2008
Here's How It's Done
NSVF's Treasure Trove of Best Practices
New Schools Venture Fund has made big bets on some of the premiere charter schools and networks in the US. Now they've put together a really intriguing publication that allows the rest of us to see how Achievement First, High Tech High, Green Dot and other high-flying organizations get it done.
Want to know how Aspire decides on a new school site? Or how Lighthouse actually gets a school open? It's all in there, in a user-friendly series of case studies accompanied by actual surveys and other replicable tools
(Disclosure -- NSVF CEO Ted Mitchell's on our board. But no goods or services were provided in exchange for this mini-review. It's a terrific publication.)
NS
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The Midnight Train For Georgia Charters
Guest Blogger Tony Roberts Recounts Big Win
We write to share some great news: In the last few hours of the legislative session on Friday night, the Georgia legislature approved a bill that creates a new state-level charter authorizer. But it was a wild ride. While the House had approved Rep. Jan Jones’s strong bill (HB 881), the Senate had added a killer provision that would have given districtwide Charter Systems “exclusive jurisdiction” to create and oversee charters in their own backyards. Worse, the amendment would have allowed even districts applying for Charter System status to enjoy exclusivity — meaning any district would be free to submit application paperwork as a way of blocking new charters.
Jan Jones learned that the exclusivity amendment was not offered as a means to discourage start-up charters, but as an “incentive” for school districts to apply for charter system status. Jones, who is Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, offered a substitute to the Senate offering a per-student financial incentive to new charter systems in exchange for removing the whole paragraph regarding exclusivity. Her proposal was fortunately accepted by Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and the Senate.
As you know, we mounted a strong advocacy campaign to get the exclusivity language removed. Just moments after the amendment that added exclusivity language was introduced on the Senate floor and while it was being debated, the Georgia Charter Schools Association hand-delivered to the Lt. Governor, as he presided, a letter informing him that a bill passed with that provision “nullified” any positive effects of 881. Then, after the amendment was passed despite our protests, we asked the charter school community to let the Lt. Governor hear from them. They responded, big time — and we’re grateful that the National Alliance weighed in with Cagle and the senators, making the case that Charter Systems and start-up charter schools could and should co-exist in the same school district.
Of course, we are awaiting the governor’s signature on the bill, and have begun our advocacy in that regard. But, the bill that has been passed is a thousand percent better now than it was before the exclusivity provisions were inserted. And HB881 takes it place along with three other bills that will expand and strengthen charter schools, all passed in this session awaiting the Governor’s signature.
This was indeed a “David versus Goliath” situation which has gone successfully to this point because “right does sometime prevail over might.” All this legislation will open the doors for a quality education to thousands of children in Georgia.
Tony Roberts, Ph.D.
CEO, Georgia Charter Schools Association
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31 Mar 2008
The Incredible Indianapolis Incubator
Y’all know about the Mind Trust? Terrific new organization headed by David Harris (Bart Peterson’s former charter guru), with a mission to turn Indianapolis into a giant talent magnet. See below for a note from Harris about a Fellowship opportunity that should make ed entrepreneurs salivate...
We are pleased to announce that The Mind Trust (www.themindtrust.org <http://www.themindtrust.org/> ) is now accepting applications for the second cohort of its Education Entrepreneur Fellowship (the first cohort will be announced in May 2008). The Fellowship, a nationally unique incubator for transformative education ventures, offers promising education entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop and launch their break-the-mold education ventures and the support necessary for success. Fellows receive a full-time annual salary of $90,000 for two years, benefits, and customized training. Fellows who opt to live in Indianapolis will also get office space at The Mind Trust.
Interested candidates may apply online at www.themindtrust.org <http://www.themindtrust.org/> . Statements of Intent are due September 5, 2008. Fellowships will be awarded by December 1, 2008.
Additional information on the Fellowship is attached. You can also visit our website at www.themindtrust.org <http://www.themindtrust.org/> or contact us at info@themindtrust.org or 317-822-8102.
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28 Mar 2008
The Charter Idea at 20
Al Might Have Been Pleasantly Surprised
Rick Kahlenberg wrote a terrific bio of AFT leader Al Shanker, called Tough Liberal. I’ve sung its praises often. But he’s lifted the weakest part of the book, on Shanker’s views about charter schools, and inflated it into a really disappointing Ed Week commentary. Two things need to be said upfront in response to the question of “what would Al do” about charters:
1) Shanker died in 1997, when the movement was still in its infancy. Some of the trends he worried about haven’t materialized, and Kahlenberg’s analysis is surprisingly stale and time-bound. Charters weren’t taken over by right-wing anti-union corporatists; about 80% of them are freestanding schools, with teachers and parents almost always part of the founding group. Folks who work in the schools seldom look like attendees at a Republican convention – if anything, they’re rambunctious, iconoclastic folks of the sort Shanker would love. They’re not “anti-union” by birth. Some charters do have unions, and all have the choice to organize – but most simply reject that option because teachers have plenty of “voice” and professional satisfaction, and the traditional contract limits the schools’ ability to be nimble in serving kids.
2) Al Shanker was a great man, no doubt. But sometimes Al was wrong. His notion of a charter awarded solely by school boards (advised by unions) was fundamentally flawed. Some school boards do a decent job of authorizing but there’s an inherent tension in giving a monopoly provider the power to license its competitors. That’s why the movement has devoted so much effort in the past several years to getting universities, nonprofits, and new state charter boards into the mix.
In an article full of challengeable assumptions and assertions, there are three particularly wrongheaded arguments:
First, that charters “do no better than unionized public schools” – or in another variation, granting that “a small number of highly publicized” charters like KIPP do OK with poor kids, but that the “vast majority” do not. Bunk. Kahlenberg is repeating, without documentation, a popular myth. We have a raft of studies showing that charters are taking kids who start behind the academic curve, and moving them ahead faster than other public schools. That’s called closing the achievement gap.
Second, that charters “cream.” Shanker worried about this because some charters ask parents to sign “contracts” and this would supposedly deter poor and illiterate folks from applying. This argument was never borne out by data, quickly proved unfounded, and by 2008, has mold all over it. Charter schools are open to all, deal with over-subscription through lotteries, and enroll more poor and minority kids than other public schools.
Lastly, and most egregious, that charter schools “segregate.” This charge arises out of the simple fact that huge numbers of African-American parents are voluntarily choosing charter schools out of despair with dysfunctional district-run inner-city schools. They’re not framing their choices to suit a grand socioeconomic theory; they simply want a good school where their kids will be safe and have a better chance of graduating and going to college.
There’s much more to be said about the intersection of charter schools and teacher unions (here’s a good place to start), and about whether our schools are fulfilling their promise. But we ought to have a dialogue that addresses current realities rather than discredited myths.
NS
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