Public Schools Beat Charter Schools
BY KATY HEYBORNE
Public schools are schools which have the purpose in giving students of various diverse backgrounds an equal opportunity to education according to Horace Mann (1848), the inventor of the American common school, which developed into the American public school system. (Harvey, 50 par. 7). Most of us probably went to public schools. Public schools are free, supported by taxpayer money, and usually controlled by local school boards. The standards for teacher certification and curriculum are set by state standards.
Charter schools are schools created when an organization obtains a charter from a state authorized agency. The charter gives the organization a set period of years to meet its performance goals in exchange for autonomy. These are schools that aim to improve academic performance tremendously, by finding innovative ways to do more with less. Charter schools are still considered public schools. They charge no tuition, supposedly accept all students and have academically certified school teachers. They also receive less public money than traditional public schools (“In our opinion”1 par. 1-2). This is of course due to smaller class sizes and fewer children in a charter school, as well as the lack of expensive facilities such as athletic fields, theatre spaces, and musical instruments.
What are the hypotheses behind the Charter School Movement? One is that they give parents more choices for educating students. Caroline Hoxby, Harvard University economist, believes that school choice is important in the United States. Her argument is that if children and parents don’t have a good experience at a charter school they always have the option to send them back to their local public school (Hoxby, Peterson, Finn, Crew, and Brennan).
The second hypothesis is that charter schools would promote innovation and efficiency by matching schools to students’ needs (Hoxby, Peterson, Finn, Crew, and Brennan 1 par. 2).
Public schools are schools which have the purpose in giving students of various diverse backgrounds an equal opportunity to education according to Horace Mann (1848), the inventor of the American common school, which developed into the American public school system. (Harvey, 50 par. 7). Most of us probably went to public schools. Public schools are free, supported by taxpayer money, and usually controlled by local school boards. The standards for teacher certification and curriculum are set by state standards.
Charter schools are schools created when an organization obtains a charter from a state authorized agency. The charter gives the organization a set period of years to meet its performance goals in exchange for autonomy. These are schools that aim to improve academic performance tremendously, by finding innovative ways to do more with less. Charter schools are still considered public schools. They charge no tuition, supposedly accept all students and have academically certified school teachers. They also receive less public money than traditional public schools (“In our opinion”1 par. 1-2). This is of course due to smaller class sizes and fewer children in a charter school, as well as the lack of expensive facilities such as athletic fields, theatre spaces, and musical instruments.
What are the hypotheses behind the Charter School Movement? One is that they give parents more choices for educating students. Caroline Hoxby, Harvard University economist, believes that school choice is important in the United States. Her argument is that if children and parents don’t have a good experience at a charter school they always have the option to send them back to their local public school (Hoxby, Peterson, Finn, Crew, and Brennan).
The second hypothesis is that charter schools would promote innovation and efficiency by matching schools to students’ needs (Hoxby, Peterson, Finn, Crew, and Brennan 1 par. 2).
(NAEP), 2003 Mathematics Charter school Pilot study
Purple: Charter schools
Lighter Purple: Public Schools
Significantly different from other public schools.
Who Attends Charter Schools?
The graph shows that, for 4th graders, significantly fewer males than females, and significantly fewer white students than black students, attend charter schools. Also significantly fewer students with disabilities are accepted into charter schools than public schools. More students that live in a central city attend charters than those in non-central cities.
What is the evidence for or against these hypotheses? Some studies have shown great gains in student learning and graduation rates in charters. However, better-designed studies have not. The report by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) used sophisticated models, appropriate demographic controls, and national samples to evaluate both charter and public schools and concurred with the AFT report. This report revealed that children in charters don’t perform better than those in traditional public schools do on standardized achievement tests (Renzulli and Roscigno 33 par. 2-3).
Who Attends Charter Schools?
The graph shows that, for 4th graders, significantly fewer males than females, and significantly fewer white students than black students, attend charter schools. Also significantly fewer students with disabilities are accepted into charter schools than public schools. More students that live in a central city attend charters than those in non-central cities.
What is the evidence for or against these hypotheses? Some studies have shown great gains in student learning and graduation rates in charters. However, better-designed studies have not. The report by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) used sophisticated models, appropriate demographic controls, and national samples to evaluate both charter and public schools and concurred with the AFT report. This report revealed that children in charters don’t perform better than those in traditional public schools do on standardized achievement tests (Renzulli and Roscigno 33 par. 2-3).
2009 Study
The study conducted in 2009 by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University looked at the performance of students in charter schools in 15 states and the District of Columbia, and covered 70% of U.S of the charter school students (Weiss23).
This report warned that students in charter schools were not performing as well as students in traditional schools. However, a successful minority of charter schools were found by researchers. The number of successful schools that narrowed achievement gaps between poor, minority and white students may be in the hundreds (Trip 2).
An example of a successful charter is Williamsburg Collegiate Middle School, whose student’s generally outscore their district, city average and state test scores. This charter is successful because the school measures, compares, graphs and displays everything publicly (Renzulli and Roscigno 32, par. 2-3). However, others fail, like the Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy in Ohio. One indication of this is that only 20% of the fifth graders at the Arts and Social sciences academy passed the 2009 fifth grade state math exam (Trip 4-5 par. 4, 9, 12). This means that not all charter schools have teachers with techniques able to best meet the students educational or core curriculum needs. Schools like this Arts and Social sciences academy, and some traditional public schools, are in a state of “academic emergency,” but people that don’t know the school may not be able to tell that it is failing its students (Trip 4-5 par. 4, 9, 12).
William Wraga, the professor of the University of Georgia College of Education Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy, explains that charters are no better than traditional public schools, since the innovations typically have more to do with managing and advertising than with curriculum and instruction (Wraga 1,2 par.11, par. 7). He says charter school reform promises such as market based reform have not been met due to a lack of support and evidence. He argues that the best way to improving public schools is to use reforms proven to work, having classroom practices demonstrated to improve curriculum, instruction, assessment and overall student learning. If public schools were policy free, they could pursue innovative solutions to educational problems. Charter school money could be used instead to help improve public schools (Wraga 2 par. 9-12 , 3 par. 1-3)
Charters also often have relatively untrained inexperienced staff and teachers who may have a real impact on how teachers succeed in the classroom. As May Talia Farrow, a charter school parent, states “A lot of them don't have classroom management skills,” in reference to charter teachers (Morgan 1 par.2). Because a lot of teachers in charters don't have good classroom management skills and tend to be more inexperienced, I would rather have my child go to a public school that has more experienced teachers that have more experience through college and likely have developed better-developed classroom management skills than charter school teachers have. This would mean that in this area public education would be a clear choice for parents, teachers and children. This is definitely true because the Certification from Data of the National Center for Educational Statistics , found that Charter school teachers tend to be younger and on average are less likely to hold state certifications than those in traditional public schools. It was revealed in their 2000 survey that 92% of public schools held state certifications compared to 79% of charter school teachers. A more recent study in 2008 revealed that 32% of charter school teachers were under 30 compared to 17% of traditional public school teachers.
Charter schools often tend to recruit from organizations such as Teach for America, an organization providing non-traditional paths to the profession, whereas more experienced teachers are in traditional public schools and wouldn't want to teach at charter schools because of risk of losing tenure(Morgan 1 par.2). Tenure in the Teacher world is defined as the teachers right to not be fired from their job without finding a just cause to terminate them. Besides these days I wouldn't blame teachers for not wanting to go to charter schools with problems in the economy as if they are not covered by tenure and too many teachers start teaching at charters and they get blamed for something or there is a shortage of jobs they would have a chance to get fired where covered by tenure they can't just be fired rather, just cause or a real reason has to be found for firing them first.
This report warned that students in charter schools were not performing as well as students in traditional schools. However, a successful minority of charter schools were found by researchers. The number of successful schools that narrowed achievement gaps between poor, minority and white students may be in the hundreds (Trip 2).
An example of a successful charter is Williamsburg Collegiate Middle School, whose student’s generally outscore their district, city average and state test scores. This charter is successful because the school measures, compares, graphs and displays everything publicly (Renzulli and Roscigno 32, par. 2-3). However, others fail, like the Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy in Ohio. One indication of this is that only 20% of the fifth graders at the Arts and Social sciences academy passed the 2009 fifth grade state math exam (Trip 4-5 par. 4, 9, 12). This means that not all charter schools have teachers with techniques able to best meet the students educational or core curriculum needs. Schools like this Arts and Social sciences academy, and some traditional public schools, are in a state of “academic emergency,” but people that don’t know the school may not be able to tell that it is failing its students (Trip 4-5 par. 4, 9, 12).
William Wraga, the professor of the University of Georgia College of Education Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy, explains that charters are no better than traditional public schools, since the innovations typically have more to do with managing and advertising than with curriculum and instruction (Wraga 1,2 par.11, par. 7). He says charter school reform promises such as market based reform have not been met due to a lack of support and evidence. He argues that the best way to improving public schools is to use reforms proven to work, having classroom practices demonstrated to improve curriculum, instruction, assessment and overall student learning. If public schools were policy free, they could pursue innovative solutions to educational problems. Charter school money could be used instead to help improve public schools (Wraga 2 par. 9-12 , 3 par. 1-3)
Charters also often have relatively untrained inexperienced staff and teachers who may have a real impact on how teachers succeed in the classroom. As May Talia Farrow, a charter school parent, states “A lot of them don't have classroom management skills,” in reference to charter teachers (Morgan 1 par.2). Because a lot of teachers in charters don't have good classroom management skills and tend to be more inexperienced, I would rather have my child go to a public school that has more experienced teachers that have more experience through college and likely have developed better-developed classroom management skills than charter school teachers have. This would mean that in this area public education would be a clear choice for parents, teachers and children. This is definitely true because the Certification from Data of the National Center for Educational Statistics , found that Charter school teachers tend to be younger and on average are less likely to hold state certifications than those in traditional public schools. It was revealed in their 2000 survey that 92% of public schools held state certifications compared to 79% of charter school teachers. A more recent study in 2008 revealed that 32% of charter school teachers were under 30 compared to 17% of traditional public school teachers.
Charter schools often tend to recruit from organizations such as Teach for America, an organization providing non-traditional paths to the profession, whereas more experienced teachers are in traditional public schools and wouldn't want to teach at charter schools because of risk of losing tenure(Morgan 1 par.2). Tenure in the Teacher world is defined as the teachers right to not be fired from their job without finding a just cause to terminate them. Besides these days I wouldn't blame teachers for not wanting to go to charter schools with problems in the economy as if they are not covered by tenure and too many teachers start teaching at charters and they get blamed for something or there is a shortage of jobs they would have a chance to get fired where covered by tenure they can't just be fired rather, just cause or a real reason has to be found for firing them first.
A large, randomized study of the effectiveness of charter middle schools was carried out by Mathematics Policy Research (funded by The Institute of Education Sciences) on 36 charter middle schools in 15 states (Gleason,xvii-xviii par.3-6). The schools had to have operated for 2 years before entering the study. Student achievement was measured by comparing those awarded a seat in a charter school through a lottery to students who entered the lottery but didn't get awarded a seat. The key findings of this study were:
1. On average, charter middle schools holding lotteries are neither more or less successful than traditional public schools in improving student achievement, behavior and school progress.
Lottery losers actually performed slightly higher in the second year across multiple states in both reading and math.
2. Students in charters serving more low-income or low-achieving students were statistically effected positively by math test scores by tutors and extra resources they got in the charter school they wouldn't get in a public school.
3. Scores of students in charters serving students that were more advantaged by having higher incomes and prior achievement were statistically affected negatively by math test scores than they would in public schools.
4. Some operational features of charter middle schools were associated with more positive impacts like more resources (or less negative) impacts on achievement less crowding.
1. On average, charter middle schools holding lotteries are neither more or less successful than traditional public schools in improving student achievement, behavior and school progress.
Lottery losers actually performed slightly higher in the second year across multiple states in both reading and math.
2. Students in charters serving more low-income or low-achieving students were statistically effected positively by math test scores by tutors and extra resources they got in the charter school they wouldn't get in a public school.
3. Scores of students in charters serving students that were more advantaged by having higher incomes and prior achievement were statistically affected negatively by math test scores than they would in public schools.
4. Some operational features of charter middle schools were associated with more positive impacts like more resources (or less negative) impacts on achievement less crowding.
BANCHERO, PORTER
Finally, in many states charter schools enroll a much smaller number of students with disabilities into their schools than public schools do. According to a government report done in the 2009- 2010 school year, across the country traditional public schools enroll 11.2% of students with disability compared to 8.2% of these students in charters. Another study done in the 2008-2009 school year by the Government Accountability Office, analyzing data from the Department of Education, found that only 7.7% of students in charters had disabilities, compared to 11.3% of children in traditional public schools(Rich, par. 1-4).
Also, the authors of “A Nation at Risk” study, done by the National Commission on Excellence in Education in 1983, explained in pg. 2 of their study how diversity of public schools is important in including all individuals regardless of race, gender, cultural or ethnic background, with mental or physical disability's, and different moral beliefs. In public schools, students gain experiences and knowledge from differences that can help them in the real world (Harvey 50 par. 10-11). A problem with charter schools as a group is that they have disproportionately low levels of enrollment of English Language learners and students with special needs (ERICKSON 44 par. 10-11). Public schools on the other hand include more students that are English language learners and have special needs and have more services to help them. In public schools, students on average score higher in math and reading achievement than in charters. Finally, less tax money and resources are used in helping public schools and many perform the same as charters.
Also, the authors of “A Nation at Risk” study, done by the National Commission on Excellence in Education in 1983, explained in pg. 2 of their study how diversity of public schools is important in including all individuals regardless of race, gender, cultural or ethnic background, with mental or physical disability's, and different moral beliefs. In public schools, students gain experiences and knowledge from differences that can help them in the real world (Harvey 50 par. 10-11). A problem with charter schools as a group is that they have disproportionately low levels of enrollment of English Language learners and students with special needs (ERICKSON 44 par. 10-11). Public schools on the other hand include more students that are English language learners and have special needs and have more services to help them. In public schools, students on average score higher in math and reading achievement than in charters. Finally, less tax money and resources are used in helping public schools and many perform the same as charters.