By Dr. Holly Robinson and Eric Wearne
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) ignited a national controversy when it published a study recently that contends charter schools are underperforming compared with traditional public schools.
The controversy centers on how to evaluate the AFT’s reported test scores. It is important, however, that any evaluation take into account the academic achievement of these students before they entered their charter schools, to keep in mind that charter schools are patronized heavily by poor and minority students, and to acknowledge the astonishing variety of charter schools.
Responding to the AFT study, which received widespread coverage after a New York Times report, researchers at Harvard’s Program in Education Policy and Governance pointed out that comparing the performance of charter and traditional schools ignores the reality that charters often accept the most challenging students. In fact, given the short time most charters have been in existence, the AFT study reveals hardly anything of value, the Harvard authors wrote in an article in the Wall Street Journal.
The study also irritated U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, judging from his comments in a speech the day after the article appeared in the Times.
“The purpose of charter schools is to provide an alternative to parents and students who have been poorly served by their previous schools,” Paige remarked.
“Poor instruction, unsafe conditions, a lack of proper attention – these are all factors in a parent’s decision to apply to a charter school. The thousands of names on waiting lists to attend charter schools attest to the need for these vital educational options.”
Nationwide, charters also serve a higher percentage of disadvantaged students than the traditional public school system, added Howard Fuller, chairman of the Charter School Leadership Council and former superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools.
“What’s crucial, however – but given short shrift by the Times – is that students make remarkable gains once they enter charter schools. Unforgivably, the Times article also fails to mention that when the data are controlled for race, the test scores of charters and traditional public schools are equivalent.”
Improving achievement is one of the major goals of school choice, but it is not the only goal. Charter schools are often created from scratch to serve specific students and specific community needs. These “startup” schools are able to offer an array of specially tailored educational opportunities often not available in traditional public schools, and Georgia has several examples of such creatively themed charters. Of the 37 charter schools currently operating or approved in Georgia, 26 are startups.
DeKalb County’s PATH Academy and the International Community School, for example, open since 2002, cater mostly to the needs of newly arrived refugee and immigrant children from around the world. The demographics of PATH Academy are 25 percent Asian, 27 percent black and 47 percent Hispanic. At the International Community Charter School, 48 percent of students are Limited English Proficient (LEP).
The Fulton Science Academy, a middle school in Alpharetta, emphasizes problem solving through hands-on learning and small group projects focusing on math and science. Tech High, which opened this fall as a part of Atlanta Public Schools, focuses on integrating high-level math, science and technology skills into its curriculum. Before graduating from Tech High, students must participate in a professional internship.
Central Education Center in Newnan, a joint-venture partnership between Coweta County Schools, West Central Technical College and business and industry, focuses on pulling together academic studies and advanced vocational/technical education, “providing learners from high school through adulthood a seamless education for life,” its Web site reports.
Georgia also has three charter schools using the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) model: KIPP Achieve Academy, KIPP South Fulton Academy, and KIPP West Atlanta Young Scholars Academy. KIPP is used in many schools around the nation, and the motto at these schools is that “there are no shortcuts” to academic excellence and personal success. Classes run from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week, for four hours on Saturday and for one month during the summer.
Under No Child Left Behind, charter schools are held to the same accountability standards for raising student achievement as all other public schools. Charter schools are beneficial because they provide parents with an alternative to the traditional public school system, enabling them to find a school that best addresses the needs of their child. Georgia requires charter schools to administer all the same assessments as other public schools.
Charter schools attempt to serve many of our neediest children, in a variety of ways, and are held accountable for student achievement. As Howard Fuller points out, “the true measure of a school’s success is how well it addresses those needs and enables all students to excel academically.” And until charter schools are given the time, resources and opportunity to operate on a level playing field, comparisons such as the AFT study are unfair and incomplete.
Dr. Holly Robinson is senior vice president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. Eric Wearne, a research assistant at the Foundation, is a Ph.D. student in Educational Studies at Emory University and a former high school teacher of English and Debate. The Foundation is an independent think tank that proposes practical, market-oriented approaches to public policy to improve the lives of Georgians. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before the U.S. Congress or the Georgia Legislature.
© Georgia Public Policy Foundation (August 27, 2004). Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided the author and their affiliations are cited.
By Dr. Holly Robinson and Eric Wearne
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) ignited a national controversy when it published a study recently that contends charter schools are underperforming compared with traditional public schools.
The controversy centers on how to evaluate the AFT’s reported test scores. It is important, however, that any evaluation take into account the academic achievement of these students before they entered their charter schools, to keep in mind that charter schools are patronized heavily by poor and minority students, and to acknowledge the astonishing variety of charter schools.
Responding to the AFT study, which received widespread coverage after a New York Times report, researchers at Harvard’s Program in Education Policy and Governance pointed out that comparing the performance of charter and traditional schools ignores the reality that charters often accept the most challenging students. In fact, given the short time most charters have been in existence, the AFT study reveals hardly anything of value, the Harvard authors wrote in an article in the Wall Street Journal.
The study also irritated U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, judging from his comments in a speech the day after the article appeared in the Times.
“The purpose of charter schools is to provide an alternative to parents and students who have been poorly served by their previous schools,” Paige remarked.
“Poor instruction, unsafe conditions, a lack of proper attention – these are all factors in a parent’s decision to apply to a charter school. The thousands of names on waiting lists to attend charter schools attest to the need for these vital educational options.”
Nationwide, charters also serve a higher percentage of disadvantaged students than the traditional public school system, added Howard Fuller, chairman of the Charter School Leadership Council and former superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools.
“What’s crucial, however – but given short shrift by the Times – is that students make remarkable gains once they enter charter schools. Unforgivably, the Times article also fails to mention that when the data are controlled for race, the test scores of charters and traditional public schools are equivalent.”
Improving achievement is one of the major goals of school choice, but it is not the only goal. Charter schools are often created from scratch to serve specific students and specific community needs. These “startup” schools are able to offer an array of specially tailored educational opportunities often not available in traditional public schools, and Georgia has several examples of such creatively themed charters. Of the 37 charter schools currently operating or approved in Georgia, 26 are startups.
DeKalb County’s PATH Academy and the International Community School, for example, open since 2002, cater mostly to the needs of newly arrived refugee and immigrant children from around the world. The demographics of PATH Academy are 25 percent Asian, 27 percent black and 47 percent Hispanic. At the International Community Charter School, 48 percent of students are Limited English Proficient (LEP).
The Fulton Science Academy, a middle school in Alpharetta, emphasizes problem solving through hands-on learning and small group projects focusing on math and science. Tech High, which opened this fall as a part of Atlanta Public Schools, focuses on integrating high-level math, science and technology skills into its curriculum. Before graduating from Tech High, students must participate in a professional internship.
Central Education Center in Newnan, a joint-venture partnership between Coweta County Schools, West Central Technical College and business and industry, focuses on pulling together academic studies and advanced vocational/technical education, “providing learners from high school through adulthood a seamless education for life,” its Web site reports.
Georgia also has three charter schools using the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) model: KIPP Achieve Academy, KIPP South Fulton Academy, and KIPP West Atlanta Young Scholars Academy. KIPP is used in many schools around the nation, and the motto at these schools is that “there are no shortcuts” to academic excellence and personal success. Classes run from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week, for four hours on Saturday and for one month during the summer.
Under No Child Left Behind, charter schools are held to the same accountability standards for raising student achievement as all other public schools. Charter schools are beneficial because they provide parents with an alternative to the traditional public school system, enabling them to find a school that best addresses the needs of their child. Georgia requires charter schools to administer all the same assessments as other public schools.
Charter schools attempt to serve many of our neediest children, in a variety of ways, and are held accountable for student achievement. As Howard Fuller points out, “the true measure of a school’s success is how well it addresses those needs and enables all students to excel academically.” And until charter schools are given the time, resources and opportunity to operate on a level playing field, comparisons such as the AFT study are unfair and incomplete.
Dr. Holly Robinson is senior vice president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. Eric Wearne, a research assistant at the Foundation, is a Ph.D. student in Educational Studies at Emory University and a former high school teacher of English and Debate. The Foundation is an independent think tank that proposes practical, market-oriented approaches to public policy to improve the lives of Georgians. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before the U.S. Congress or the Georgia Legislature.
© Georgia Public Policy Foundation (August 27, 2004). Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided the author and their affiliations are cited.
