Are Charter Schools really the Success-Breeders they Claim they Are?
Posted on Jun 15, 2011 08:20:18 AM
Charter schools come so hyped for their performance that you do have to wonder if you are hearing everything you need to know. Here’s what you really need to know about what charter schools are capable of.
Certainly, about 15% of charter schools do produce better results for their pupils than the public schools in their area. But 15% is not an impressive number. About a full third of all charter schools do much worse than the public schools in their area; and the rest of them do just about the same. That’s what a Stanford research study finds. What they seem to feel is, that charter schools are no better than public schools – they are sometimes really good, and sometimes they are really bad. In about the same proportion.
The way charter schools go on about their commitment to quality, you never think to question them on the kind of teachers they employ. Charter school teachers however in general are less experienced and less likely to come with any kind of state certification. A lot less likely that the teachers at public schools. At the charter schools, they employ 10% fewer teachers with certification than the public schools do. Lots of the teachers at charter schools come from Teach for America. They follow unconventional paths into the teaching profession. In general, teachers who have a proper job with a public school really would never consider giving up the job security there for a job with a charter school. Many teachers at charter schools have little training in how to manage classes too.
And that’s not the end of the teacher problems that charter schools have either. About 25% of all charter school teachers leave their jobs each year. That’s twice the turnover that normal public schools roll with. One reason this is so is that charter schools pay their teachers very little. With little training and with little ability to manage their classes, these poorly paid teachers often leave the teaching profession altogether – more than twice as often as teachers in public schools.
Charter schools have other problems too. For instance, if your child has disabilities, the charter schools usually have no way to help you out. They’ll just tell you to find another school. And since many charter schools are run by private religious organizations, religion does often enter the classroom.
Some of the practices that charter schools engage in to recruit new students may often seem a bit in poor taste. Sometimes, they’ll simply advertise; at other times, they’ll give out cash prizes or gift cards. After all this, how do some charter schools actually get their results? For one thing, if they have students who don’t seem to be doing well, they don’t have any qualms about having those students leave. A regular public school has to take everyone in whether or not they perform well. Charter schools don’t have to take everyone. They sometimes lose half their class through the year. These are usually struggling students who feel they can’t find any help and just stop coming. Of course, charter schools can report great performance among their students if their poorly performing charges just feel forced to leave.