Sen Dennis Kruse of Auburn has filed a bill on teacher evaluation and pay, Rep. Brian Bosma of Carmel has introduced a bill to expand charter schools while a bill on school vouchers is also in the works. Finally after decades of staying the course while urban districts continue to churn out graduates with worthless diplomas, the politicians, make that Republican politicians, are willing to force change. No it won't be perfect, there will be unintended consequences and there will be adjustments down the road.
There has been relatively muted reaction from teachers' unions since they know they can't block the tide. They'll have to start buying Republican politicians instead of Democrats now. Predictably the hysterics have come from the JG, which went on another inane tirade against charter schools in Sunday's Perspective. Today's commentary mentioned that Tony Bennett's wife is consultant for the state charter school association. Like there's no hypocrisy at the JG.
Relax guys. The threat of extinction did wonders for the US automobile industry. It will do the same for FWCS.
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From the blog, Schools Matter:
In system-wide comparisons, the charters were 20 percent more segregated than the public schools, and in the more localized comparisons, the charters were 18 percent more segregated than neighboring publics.
and
The study [of charters] found that only 17 percent of charters do better than matched public schools, 46 percent show no significant difference in performance, and 37 percent do worse than matched public peers.
So on average they're performing at about the same level, but they don't spend as much money. And closing or changing the ones that don't work, which is what should happen, is easier than a with a government run school.
Why is segregation an issue unless it's deliberate? The local charters don't pick and choose who enrolls.
I don't see any reason for objecting to publicly funded alternatives to government run schools. For FWCS and its supporters its only about keeping the money coming.
Charter schools don't get to pick their students? Well, OK, but I doubt any charter school has an ELL program or a mildly mentally handicapped program or an emotionally handicapped program. If a charter student is incarcerated, guess who is legally obligated to educate them?
About the same level? Twice as many charters do worse than similar publics than do better.
I am not saying that public schools are perfect, but I do not see charters as the answer. The answer may lie in telling students and adults to take more individual responsibility for their education and their lives.
So eventually, public schools will become warehouses for ELL students, handicapped students and other disadvantaged students who have no adult to advocate for them. The rest can be happy in private schools and gov't charters. That is the goal, right?
The CREDO report also found that states with fewer entities authorizing public charter schools perform significantly better than the aggregate percentages cited above by siestagirl. Although Daniels education agenda calls for opening more charter schools—a good thing—it also recommends increasing the number of entities that can do so—maybe not so good. (Indiana charted schools have three authorizing entities: school boards, public state universities, and the mayor of Indianapolis.)
Kate
In addition, the CREDO summary findings also included these encouragements:
It is important to note that the news for charter schools has some encouraging facets. In our nationally pooled sample, two subgroups fare better in charters than in the traditional system: students in poverty and ELL students. This is no small feat. In these cases, our numbers indicate that charter students who fall into these categories are outperforming their TPS counterparts in both reading and math. These populations, then, have clearly been well served by the introduction of charters into the education landscape. These findings are particularly heartening for the charter advocates who target the most challenging educational populations or strive to improve education options in the most difficult communities.
Kate
BTW, charter schools are public schools!
How did the Cambridge group, a respected international group, evaluate the "LEAD" restructuring process? This should be of pblic information.
From what I've read Googling the CREDO report so far (I haven't slogged through the report itself) it doesn't sound like it's going to settle the argument. And without doing that I can't judge the significance of Siesta's numbers (they're the numbers for math by the way).
The objective of charters should be to provide fair competition for government schools with the best schools of either type surviving. I don't think charters pose as big a challenge to government schools in Indiana as a voucher program would and that is also being hashed out in the legislature.
… you are right, CBS, the CREDO study/report will not settle the argument. That is why its findings should not be cherry picked to support the opinion that charter schools do not work or the opinion that they are the cure-all for fixing traditional public schools (TBS). With its mixed bag of results, what the report does garner is support for the idea that the educational model that says one-size-fits-all (see video) no longer works.
Enter center stage: charter schools and school vouchers...
Kate
Thanks Kate, you said that much better than I did.
One thing Indiana should do is put in the same performance expectations and takeover criteria for charters as they do for other public schools. That part of the equation should be an level playing field. If a charter can come into the FW area and outperform current public schools then we will all be better for it. And I truly mean that.
I see that the CREDO study finds that charter high schools fare worse than their traditional public school counterparts, in both reading and math. It is interesting to note, then, that in Indiana the vast majority of schools poised for state takeover, that is, turned over to charter operators, are high schools.
So did you slog through the whole report? What you point out is what I would expect, that turning a high school around by itself would be unlikely. Don Willis has been reluctant to start a charter high school because he wouldn't be able to limit the applicants to kids coming from his (Imagine's) feeder schools. And high schools cost more to operate.
That's why I have a hard time believing (per the JG) that the IDE is anxious to pounce on any high schools, like they supposedly are with Harding. They can probably only make limited gains. On the other hand they won't do any worse. EACS claims that they fear for the Harding kids if a charter comes in are rididulous.
While I support Charters, if they are community based, they are usually evil. Then again, we have Imagine - imagine they are a real school - that allows their kids to watch movies for 3 hours each and every afternoon. Teachers who could not obtain a job in the real school system, they were not good enough even for FWCS! Lax teaching policies, teachers who hit students and students that are so afraid they will be kicked out, they won't tell anyone.
WOW Anonymous, that is some insight that you have on Imagine Schools....I would LOVE to know where you got that information. Since I went to Catholic schools I learned that it's ok to pray and I will pray for you...Siestagirl...the charters have Special Ed too.
Charter schools do not claim to be the answer for our school problems, they are simply a "choice" for parents and students who are in public education. Isn't that what America is supposed to be about?
I still think the whole scare tactic with the Charter schools is plain and simply the teachers Union. They want to control it all...All over this country teachers can no longer actually teach anything but Federal testing. Until the ISTEP is changed nothing will change...teachers and administraters will continue to lose there jobs in the hundreds. They can all be replaced with all of the new graduates and then they can lose their jobs too when the kids still do not pass the test..and it will just be a revolving door not solving a thing. Say what you want about the Charters but at least they are trying to make a difference and are not being overpowered by a bully schoolboard president and an overpaid Superintendant....
jeez o pete- I just can't understand the aversion and opposition to ISTEP. These tests just cover the very basics that kids need to master. In suburban and private they're a non event. In urban schools they're a big deal because they show that inner city kids aren't even learning the basics. They're an embarrassment to urban districts but that never bothered them enough to change course until their money was threatened.
Code Blue my opposition to the ISTEP is that nothing else is being taught..did you have the ISTEP? I didn't. I see so many teens and 20 year olds and now even 30 yr olds that have no idea how to do anything that pertains to normal everyday life. I had four yrs of business communications and business law in HS that taught me enough that I held a good position with a full time job for 32 yrs. I knew how to write a check and to know that I had bills due that had to be paid. I knew that I had other responsibilities in this life besides passing a math or science test. Home Ec was awesome too. Propert tax, neighborhood assoc's...do these young perfect score ISTEP test takers care? I have young neighbors that just go about their everyday life and nothing else matters...I know because we have one of these twenty somethings for a son. He passed every ISTEP he ever took, in fact was over the average every year. The man is a math and science wizard. But he has no idea how to take care of the everyday life issues, even though we taught or tried to teach him how to do these things. Maybe it mattered more to me because I knew that I had to know these things to get my diploma. So my "beef" with the ISTEP is simply that if I had my choice I would rather these kids learn more about life...these are the people that are going to be making decisions for me someday and it scares me....these are my future neighbors and I don't want to live by them...the comparisons to foreign countries to me is crazy too. We all know that in China they would beat the heck out of a kid for not passing a test or shoot the parents if they don't. They hardly qualify for our laws here...
No,there was no ISTEP when I went to school. I took the SAT. The was no preparation or course or books on how to take the SAT like they have now. You just went in on a Saturday morning and took the test and that was it. It was a non-event. If we had had an ISTEP back then, it would have been the same way. They wouldn't have "taught to the test" because, if you paid attention in class, you would be well prepared for a standardized test that only covered the very basics.
The controversy over standardized testing, even the need for it, is just an indication of how much our public education system has deteriorated.
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