10 Things Charter Schools Won't Tell You

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by nana053

http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/National_Release.pdf



There is a link to download the full report. Frankly, the results charter schools have gotten is disappointing and uneven. Some are great. Most are average or less than average though.

One problem with data like this is you have to compare charters to the districts their students come from which may or may not be the district in which they reside. There are charter schools in my city that are much worse than the city schools but their students come from surrounding districts that are very bad. While worse than the schools in my city, they are better than the schools their kids come from.

I see charters as a necessary evil. They suck because of the way they treat teachers and the high turn over rate is not good for students but even with that, they're, often, better than the districts they draw their students from. They provide a better option for the kids who attend them.

[psr13]

Originally Posted by Ivorytickler

One flaw in this article is it doesn't recognize that charter schools often don't draw their students from city in which they reside. The charters in my city have, mainly, students from Detroit. They may not be better than the local schools my kids go to but they ARE better than the kids their students are coming from.

How common is this really? Out here you have to live in the district of the charter school. Most districts do not have them. We are very grateful for my niece's charter school. Due to the fact that she lives in the poorest area of a very poor, crime ridden city, her neighborhood school is a joke.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by psr13

How common is this really? Out here you have to live in the district of the charter school. Most districts do not have them. We are very grateful for my niece's charter school. Due to the fact that she lives in the poorest area of a very poor, crime ridden city, her neighborhood school is a joke.

Our district is a county wide district and the population of the county is 1.8 million. There are plenty of inner city areas within the district and charters pull from anywhere in the district. If you compare the worst schools in Fort Lauderdale with the charter schools you will see that the charters are better. The best schools in the district (typically in the western part of the county) do better than the Fort Lauderdale charters but the Fort Lauderdale charters pull from the worst schools in the district.

I think it's pretty common.

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by psr13

How common is this really? Out here you have to live in the district of the charter school. Most districts do not have them. We are very grateful for my niece's charter school. Due to the fact that she lives in the poorest area of a very poor, crime ridden city, her neighborhood school is a joke.

Our charter schools are not associated with a district. I think the only requirement is the student is a state resident and I'm not sure of that. The charter I taught in drew most of its students from districts outside of the on in which it resided. In fact, the three schools were actually in different districts.