Propel wants to open K-8 in Hazelwood (Pittsburgh: credit, daycare)

[BrianTH]

Article:

Propel looks into charter school in Pittsburgh's Hazelwood section - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Propel has been a major success story with a growing network of pretty good charter schools in the area. But they have often had to litigate to get their schools open. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Uptown kid]

It should work out well, after all the have a pretty good track record for the schools they've opened in these areas...

[szug-bot]

i wsay a woman in west mifflin works in downtown, and her child's local elementary school sucks. would enrollment for her kid in a charter school be a decision-maker? i know nothing about charter schools and their differences from public schools (my understanding is that they are still free of tuition).

[BrianTH]

Charter schools are in fact tuition-free--they get their funding through a credit that the student's home district is required to provide.

There are lots of studies casting doubt on whether the average charter school is really better than the average traditional school, once you control for a variety of other factors. However, I think they are particularly useful where the local traditional schools are considerably worse than average, and reform efforts are non-existent or unsuccessful.

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Charter schools are in fact tuition-free--they get their funding through a credit that the student's home district is required to provide.

There are lots of studies casting doubt on whether the average charter school is really better than the average traditional school, once you control for a variety of other factors. However, I think they are particularly useful where the local traditional schools are considerably worse than average, and reform efforts are non-existent or unsuccessful.

Like traditional public schools Charters vary greatly in quality. I've had experience with a very good charter school. My kids went to Summit Prep, one of the schools featured in the documentary Waiting for Superman. Charters are not the panacea many take them to be. Like private schools they are often able to weed out the "bad seeds" and put them back into the regular public school system. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the charter schools with great results may be getting those results, in part, by getting rid of the most problematic kids. I worry about the kids with problems becoming the throwaway kids. There needs to be a place for them somewhere too.

Don't think that all problem kids have uninvolved parents. My kids were problem kids and the school's attitude was that they would throw all their resources at my kids, but if it didn't work, they'd have to go elsewhere. We went elsewhere. It was very nerve-wracking to go through. That said, Summit is an excellent school, but not the right school for my kids. I think the same is probably true for every good school out there. In other words you have to find schools that are a good fit for your kids. Just because a school is good doesn't mean it's the right school for you.

[BrianTH]

That's another good point in favor of school choice measures, not just charters but also laws that allow parents more registration options among traditional schools: different kids may do best in different schools.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by juliegt

Like traditional public schools Charters vary greatly in quality. I've had experience with a very good charter school. My kids went to Summit Prep...I worry about the kids with problems becoming the throwaway kids. There needs to be a place for them somewhere too....

not always the heartless bastard i try to be, i too worry about them. their future is already in jeopardy because of their bad luck in being born to unprepared or uncaring and ignorant parents.

BUT...i feel its wrong to deny a kid his potential if he/she is in an elementary zoo where being smart, or excelling, is frowned upon by peers. hence my original question - i dont have kids, and dont want any, but i would like to see elementary education in cities not be mediocre-education daycare, while the upper st. clairs (no offense to them) continue to see stellar results.

if it means providing an option for those willing to try and put their nose to the grindstone of educational pursuits, then i fully support charter schools. of course, and this is a tangent, its all the parents' influence, basically.

i remember 'magnet schools'. i have no idea if the brilliant Pgh Public schools (now there's an oxymoron) still has them.

[Stijl Council]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

would enrollment for her kid in a charter school be a decision-maker?

I'm not sure what you mean by this sentence. Are you saying would that be a good thing to factor into her decisions of where to live or work?

I'd say one consideration would be that the most popular charters get more interest than they have spots. So I wouldn't make decisions on where to live counting on my kids getting into a charter.