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I believe most states do not allow kids with special needs be discriminated against in charter school entry.
My kids school (charter) actually had a higher percentage of special needs children then the local school district for awhile. Why? Well because those kids parents tended to be much more involved and hence would seek out paper work for Charter and Magnet schools in higher percentages then general population students.
The problem is that these kids may be accepted to the school at the beginning of the school year, but once the money is decided on by the enrollment numbers, the charter school *counsels* out these students and sends them back to the public school.
The reality is parents of severely disabled kids know that charter schools will not meet their needs. They do not even apply because the vast majority of charter schools do not even have separate room for SpEd kids or SpEd teachers. And that is only the SpEd kids who are not in specialized programs elsewhere in the district outside of the traditional school.
Yes appears to be few percent less. A teacher mentioned it to me last year so it may have passed even at some point recently. 11% for the charter and 14% for the district is remarkably close given the small school size. I believe her exact phrasing was we had a higher percentage of incoming special ed then the local school district for the year.
But looking at the chart charters are close and seem to average about the same as magnets. I will admit CT is a bit different then most charter states.
Odyssey does have a separate classroom plus aides how work with 504 kids.
Yes appears to be few percent less. A teacher mentioned it to me last year so it may have passed even at some point recently. 11% for the charter and 14% for the district is remarkably close given the small school size. I believe her exact phrasing was we had a higher percentage of incoming special ed then the local school district for the year.
But looking at the chart charters are close and seem to average about the same as magnets. I will admit CT is a bit different then most charter states.
Odyssey does have a separate classroom plus aides how work with 504 kids.
Yes, 3% less. And 5% less ESL. And 18% less kids on free and reduced lunch (aka poor) and so on. It adds up. Richer kids, less disabilities, no language barriers, is exactly why charter schools have such the advantage and why taking the money away from the poorer students with more disabilities or ESL issues is so unfair.
Yes appears to be few percent less. A teacher mentioned it to me last year so it may have passed even at some point recently. 11% for the charter and 14% for the district is remarkably close given the small school size. I believe her exact phrasing was we had a higher percentage of incoming special ed then the local school district for the year.
But looking at the chart charters are close and seem to average about the same as magnets. I will admit CT is a bit different then most charter states.
Odyssey does have a separate classroom plus aides how work with 504 kids.
The huge difference between charters and publics is severity and cost of sped services provided even more so than total enrollment. It's nearly always the case that charter sped enrollment consists of lower cost students with designations such as SLD and SI. Kids with autism, EBD, etc. end up in public schools the overwhelming majority of the time.
You're still talking to well-off white people. Inner city Single Moms and inner city grandparents raising at-risk kids while Single Mom is dealing with the legal and/or mental health systems can't "just move", can't "just pay for private", and can't "just homeschool".
I don't think charter schools are a panacea, but I've seen plenty of at-risk poor kids who have stayed in school because of charter schools. They won't go to Harvard but they may take a few courses at community college, and will probably get steady jobs as medical techs or office assistants.
Right, use that money to reach at-risk kids. If it's so easy to do in the traditional public school setting, why didn't they just do it? Why is that only brought up when charter schools present competition?
Charter schools pick and choose their pupils, allowing them to skew their results. If these taxpayer subsidized charter schools had to take in all of the poor and at-risk kids just as the taxpayer subsidized public schools must, we would see different results.
The question is: what can public schools do differently? Why is it acceptable that money intended for all students can be partially diverted to a select group of students, leaving the others with less?
The differences between public schools and charter schools go well beyond issues of governance. One of the strengths of a true public school is its ethical and legal obligation to educate all. Public school systems enroll any student who comes into the district’s attendance zone from ages 5 to 21 — no matter their handicapping condition, lack of prior education, first language, or even disciplinary or criminal record. Not only will empty seats be filled at any grade, if there is a sudden influx of students, classes must be opened.
In contrast, charter schools control enrollment — in both direct and subtle ways. In 2013, journalist Stephanie Simon wrote a comprehensive report exposing the lengthy applications, tests, essays and other hurdles used by many charters schools to make sure they get the kind of student that they want.
Even when some charter chains, such as Aspire, Success Academy and KIPP, have simple applications and lottery entrance, student bodies are not necessarily representative of neighborhood schools.
Charter schools pick and choose their pupils, allowing them to skew their results. If these taxpayer subsidized charter schools had to take in all of the poor and at-risk kids just as the taxpayer subsidized public schools must, we would see different results.
The question is: what can public schools do differently? Why is it acceptable that money intended for all students can be partially diverted to a select group of students, leaving the others with less?
Not all pick and choose. As mentioned some schools act like public schools and pull everyone in. I think it's more an argument over bad charter schools then charter schools in general. Charter schools can work, but alot don't.
I should mention some public schools have been known to try and pick and choose as well. Here in CT several school districts have come under fire for trying to push out students with poor performance by aggressively investigating their living circumstances to try and disqualify them from attending school. My favorite was a friend who's kid has discipline issues. They moved from an under performing school to one of the top ones in the state (public). His son was suspended or removed from school to many times to graduate his senior year. When the school heard he would come back for another year (he was dragging down their averages small school wealthy neighborhood) they fudged the records and graduated him.
The reality is parents of severely disabled kids know that charter schools will not meet their needs. They do not even apply because the vast majority of charter schools do not even have separate room for SpEd kids or SpEd teachers. And that is only the SpEd kids who are not in specialized programs elsewhere in the district outside of the traditional school.
Reading the linked report more it appears the charter schools in CT are out performing magnet and technical schools in special needs. It would seem at least here in CT school choice divides people as much or more then charter vs public schools. I like school choice but it does seem to leave people behind.
So again not all charter schools are awful but we are still far from finding a silver bullet for under performing schools.
In many ways the magnets are as bad as the charters. They skim off the top of the available students. That makes the regular schools worse. What you end up in the low end public schools are the least motivated, most transient students generally with the least experienced and weakest teachers.
And it is the bottom 25% that damages NV performance. And magnets and charters makes it worse if anything. What we need is some system to deal with schools loaded with English Learners, The Disabled, the Transient and the ill behaved. Tall order.
We used to have that, and tiers within each grade level -- remedial, grade level, advanced/honors. Somewhere along the line it was frowned upon. If we went back to a similar model, with special classrooms set up for the students who either need remediation, ESL, enrichment for the very bright, or behavioral problems we might see an improvement in all student groupings without the need for for profit charter schools.
Not all pick and choose. As mentioned some schools act like public schools and pull everyone in. I think it's more an argument over bad charter schools then charter schools in general. Charter schools can work, but alot don't.
Not all cherry pick their student body, but a lot do. Charter schools are wonderful for siphoning tax dollars away and enriching their CEOs and investors (look into hedge funds and Charter schools.) Why else would all the politicians like it -- especially someone like Romney (as seen in the video) and Bain Capital?
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