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The Report Is In: How Are California’s Charter Schools Measuring Up?
By Diane Demee-Benoit
9/12/07Many people think of public charter schools as a way to increase student achievement and improve our public school system. However, many others believe charters divert resources from traditional public schools and don’t meet up to accountability measures. These opposing views often lead to friction among people who actually have much in common: a genuine concern for children and the national right to high-quality public education.
What do we really know about public charter schools and their level of success? California has some recent data that hopefully will help advise the policy for charter schools’ facilities, financial impact, and governance.
Let me give you some background on California’s public charter schools. The first charter opened in 1993; since that time, the number has grown steadily each year. The most recent data, from 2005-06, reveals that 574 charter schools now operate in California, serving about 3 percent of our children. In addition, one-fourth of California’s 1,034 school districts and county offices of education have at least one charter school, and 8 school districts have converted all their schools into charters.
In June 2007, EdSource -- a respected, nonpartisan educational-research organization -- published its third annual analysis, “California’s Charter Schools: Measuring Their Performance.” Though measuring and comparing school performance is always complicated, the Edsource report offers an impartial analysis that must be considered in the policy debate. Any analysis has its limitations, but what I especially appreciate about the report is the care researchers paid to controlling for the measurable student characteristics most strongly related to school performance.
I leave it to you to read and evaluate the report, but here are two points the researchers found especially intriguing:
- As a whole, charter elementary schools had lower Academic Performance Index (API) scores than traditional public elementary schools; however, charter high schools generally scored better than their traditional counterparts. Furthermore, charter middle schools outperformed noncharters on all measures by statistically significant margins, and this strong performance has been stable for several years.
- Classroom-based charters and schools run by charter-management organizations showed significantly stronger performances.
Additional concerns that need to be addressed include
- school facilities, which remain a central issue for charter schools and local education agencies (LEAs).
- charter schools’ financial impact on the LEA’s operating funds, and charter governance issues.
- possible revisions to recent state statutes based on lessons learned.
Do you have experience with charter schools or an opinion you’d like to share? I’d like to hear from you.
Charter system?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 27, 2007 - 18:58.
I was happy to find this blog about charter schools. I teach in a district that is applying to become a charter system. Anyone know much about other schools that are part of a charter system? If so can you impart some information? This is a new concept in GA, though charter schools have been around since the late 90's.
Bad taste for charter schools
Submitted by Michelle (not verified) on November 26, 2007 - 17:34.
This is my first blogging experience and I have been waiting for a long time to speak about my charter school experience. I get a bad taste in my mouth when I think about charter schools. I worked at one two years ago in Ohio and it was a terrible experience. I had two teacher friends who experienced this nightmare with me. The students have no feel of consistency because teachers come and go like the wind. The school I worked at hired people without teaching degrees. They deceived parents by having them believe their children were getting the best education. My friends and I witnessed teachers and administrators cheating on standardized tests. One teacher who worked there for many years told us about a teacher who reported the cheating to the testing authorities. She was fired afterwards and told she was not a team player. The charter school felt like a cult. If you spoke your mind or called them out on anything they were doing wrong, you would fear losing your job and be chastised by the superintendent and employees. There were no consequences for students with negative behaviors. We could not give failing grades on a report card, even if that is what the child earned. It would look bad to parents and make them question the curriculum and seek alternative schools. I feel bad for the parents and students because they deserve better. They deserve the truth!
The charter school in our
Submitted by Ally (not verified) on October 3, 2007 - 23:38.
The charter school in our community opened as a response to the closing of our only "magnate school" (actually, it had ceased being a magnate 7 years prior to its closing, but still outscored all other schools in the area). The charter was started by well-meaning, passionate parents. It has underperformed every year, and this last year is no exception.
The problem, as I see it, is that the highly-qualified teachers in our (isolated) area did not buy into it. The school has been taught by under-qualified teachers and run by a group of well-intentioned amateurs who do not understand how to run a school, and good intentions aren’t enough.
I am certain there must be successful charters out there somewhere, but ours is close to failing through mismanagement.
EdSource is supposed to be
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on October 3, 2007 - 22:43.
EdSource is supposed to be impartial… but their study on charter performance was supported by a grant from Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix and former president of the state Board of Education in California. What’s not common knowledge is that Reed also started a charter school in Santa Cruz, Pacific Collegiate School, and has plans to open another. Though PCS serves the high achievers in the community, it does not reflect the demographics of the County (the City did not agree to the Charter), and PCS has syphened these families—the ones that make a difference—from the public middle school.
pre-screening?
Submitted by Martha (not verified) on October 3, 2007 - 19:30.
What's this I'm reading about "screening" and "pre-screening"? No wonder charter schools can look better than regular public schools. If schools get to choose their students, they should be private schools, not schools paid for by the public. The purpose of public schools is to provide educational opportunities for ALL students. If schools aren't willing or able to do that, they shouldn't siphon money from the ones who are.
Charter School
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on October 3, 2007 - 19:27.
I am currently in my first year teaching and I am at a charter school. I did my field experience in a public setting and also attended public school growing up. I am in GA, our charter school is in its 6th year. This is a very new experience for me, our classes size is very low I am in Kindergarten and and have a parapro and onlly have 19 students, this is amazing. There are both perks and set backs that come along with this school I am teaching at. I find the resources that are given say from the county we do not have, like copy machines we only have 2 for the whole school. Also the school has grown and textbooks are very expensive and difficult to keep current. This has been hard with the reproducible books that go with each literacy theme, they have a copyright and I only have 1, therefor you are always looking for alternative methods. I find myself being creative, more than I thought I had in me. Also the huge problem we have is the building, we took over a previos elementary school building that we have outgrown more than triple. This is a huge concern this year in the fact that we are spread out over a huge disjoined campus. But agian the small class size allows varied instruction and small group work where I can reach every student on the level the are. Also the requirement for re-enrollment is 20 volunteer hours form every parent, this makes a huge difference the parents are directly involved in their education. Whether just at the school, at PTA functions, or in the classroom with me it shows they value what is going on with their child's education. Overall I am satisfied with my experience but see where the issues arise.
I presently teach at a
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on October 2, 2007 - 22:21.
I presently teach at a charter school in N.C. I've been there for ten years. I has it's pros and cons as other schools do. I must say that a con is that students are not screened before entering the school. This can be a major set back for the school. It can cause the test scores to be very low. Many parents see charter schools as an alternative school.
Charter Schools
Submitted by Kenya Davis (not verified) on October 2, 2007 - 13:46.
I feel that Charter Schools have their advantages amd disadvantages. They are less structured than a "normal" public school in a good way (students are the active learners), children have a say so in their education, and to me they seem to have more technology and materials within a charter school. The classroom student ratio are smaller than public school and grouping students seem to be the key.
Charter Schools - good vs. bad
Submitted by Irene Baker (not verified) on October 1, 2007 - 09:37.
Questions-
How can we accurately measure if a Charter school really benefits students? Do test scores alone evaluate a student performance? I truly believe a lot more needs to be observed beyond test scores before judging the effectiveness of a Charter school. For example, are the students developing skills above and beyond the norm? Are these students experiencing relative curriculum?
Family Experience-
I teach in an area where Charter schools are non-existent. Yet, my nephew back home in Texas attends a Charter school. This Charter school has put an emphasis on developing bilingual skills, but my concern arises when he can read in Spanish but his English reading skills are poor. We are in America! I am Hispanic, I teach Spanish, and I think it is important to be bilingual; but English should be a priority, considering we live in the U.S. I feel like he is being cheated. He is in a very awkward position: he speaks English fluently but cannot read it well; while he can read Spanish well but he cannot speak it fluently. There is something wrong with this picture.
I am sure there are good Charter schools out there. I like the way creativity is incorporated and “out of the box” teaching is done. All of this good and wonderful but are the proper measures taken when teaching these children? Are priorities mixed up? Do Charter schools want to gain so much ground and reputation that the essential reading, writing, and math skills are forsaken when teaching?
Charter Schools
Submitted by Camille (not verified) on October 1, 2007 - 12:30.
Do your nephew parents think that there is something wrong with the school's curriculm or are they happy with the charter school.
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