4 comments so far
My daughter has now attended a home school charter school for one year and the difference in her grades is phenomenal. She is a junior in high school and has gone from a c-d student to 3.6-4.0. She is motivated to learn and the work shows that. Frankly, I am pleased that she had the option to choose between a public school and charter school. She is a different child and fares well in charter school.
I think charter school kids test lower because the schools don’t teach to the standard tests like public schools do. Test my daughter about math and she might not do well; but, she can engage you in conversation about the Great Gatsby and the Scarlett Letter. The bottom line is that they teach what they should be teaching – which is a lost art in public schools.
Look, there is a huge misunderstanding of what charter schools are and do. They are public schools, so they do have to use the same state testing as every other public school. They are each run by their own school board and are only as good as their charter; each school gets a little less funding from the state than the average school, but in return have a little more control over classes that are in addition to core curriculum. Many have AP classes, again, depending on the purpose in their charter. I went to regular public schools, but my daughter has gone to two different charter schools, and overall, there is more parent involvement and higher achievement in these schools, because they are researched and chosen. In 7th grade, this year at her school, there is a 22:1 ratio in the class. There happens to be only 400 kids grades 3-12 in her whole school. While there are discipline issues like everywhere else, the incidences at the school are very rare, and there is a family kind of feel to the place. My daughter typically gets close to 100%- actually 100% in math twice- on state mandated tests. I think people need to really research charter schools before making ignorant judgments; I hear all the time from people who aren’t involved in charter schools that they are for low-achieving students, but I have seen just the opposite. They typically, and this goes beyond the actual schools she’s attended, have the same mix that other schools have but with a slightly higher percentage of motivated students and parents who are invested and involved in their children’s education.
Out of curiosity, if the two school systems are the same and assuming that both get funding from the government, why can’t the two systems share what works with each other. You would think that generates the country bigger returns on its investment than have people compete on tax payer dollar with little to show for it.
[...] Aaron at Untergeek ruminates on the New York Times‘ story about charter school test scores. I agree that there may be a selection thing going on. Kimberly Swygert is away from the office, but I’ll be interested in her take when she gets back. Also want to hear what charter school expert and edublogger extraordinaire Joanne Jacobs thinks. [...]