Get Schooled

By bearcasey

October 9, 2008 8:58 AM | Link to this

In my 31 years of experience, most charter schools aren’t much different from good public schools, only smaller. That’s a good thing.

By jim d

October 9, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this

Well I do have a problem when the charter is held by the public school system and it turns down every other charter application, as in Gwinnett.

By mmm

October 9, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this

The reason that this issues are getting so much attention is because chartering is a process that MAY leverage innovation. I say may, because when the legislature starts doing it’s top down “change the sign on the door and pretend you did something” hands too deeply involved than all you get is window dressing on as probably smaller school—as our first poster said.

I would suggest that you check out the year-long series of articles the the Christian Science Monitor is doing on my kid’s charter—-which truly is unique:

http://features.csmonitor.com/littlebillclinton/

today’s CSmonitor blog posting on that website also speaks to today’s AJC blog.

http://features.csmonitor.com/littlebillclinton/2008/10/08/something-a-little-sad/

Mary, the reporter who has been and will be living with us for the year was also at the DOE yesterday. She is going to have two stories about both the leadership transition at the school, and our charter renewal process in the near future.

By jim d

October 9, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this

Thank you Laura

“All charter systems are eligible for up to $600,000 in federal grants and up to $125,000 in state money.”

“A new state law also gives charter systems an extra $100 for each student enrolled in the system for each year the district has a charter status. Marietta schools with about 9,000 students will receive an extra $900,000 a year.”

Do the math. = $16,725,000 the first year.

This explains a lot as to why Gwinnett would like to go totally Charter with the public school system, still under the direction of Mr. Wilbanks and our local BOE.

By TheBlogger

October 9, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this

I agree - it is the money.

Charter, Theme, public, private, yada, yada, yada. The “formula” for a good and successful school is the same: good parents (ones that PARENT) + good teachers + strong administration + well behaved students that care about an education = good school.

Because a charter school is doing well is NOT because it is charter. Because a general public school is doing well is NOT because it is public. Because a private school is doing well is NOT because it is private. They do well because they follow that same formula for success.

When will everyone realize this?

By Tony

October 9, 2008 8:05 PM | Link to this

Research available thus far regarding the successes of charter schools has not provided any plausible evidence of difference in quality between charter and public schools. TheBlogger hit the nail on the head for the formula of a successful school.

Charter schools are more than a name game, though. They are part of a political agenda that wants to dismantle public education. The use of the word “choice” when talking about charter schools is disingenuous. These schools do not provide real choice to all parents. Most charters with which I am familiar require students to meet selection criteria. The schools are not required to take all students who register. (There are a few students that reach out to needy students and give them a chance.)

The more I ponder what’s wrong with education, the more I believe the true problem is federal intrusion into our local classrooms. Political leaders have used a cloud of lies to deceive people into thinking our schools are broken. Now, so many people believe those lies it is impossible to convince them otherwise. Each year Phi Delta Kappa publishes a report card of schools. This report outlines what parents think of their local school compared to other schools. For many years, local schools overwhelmingly are rated with A’s and B’s. Other schools are rated as F’s. How can this be if everyone thinks their own schools are good? Go figure.

Charter schools are just another way for politicians to pay lip service to education without really doing anything about improving kids access to consistently high quality schools.

By catlady

October 9, 2008 8:51 PM | Link to this

Tony, do you think a school can be a high quality school if it has a dedicated, trained, experienced staff and leadership? Can those qualities, without the parent and student dedication, MAKE a high quality school? Will the stool stand with only 2 legs? If not, how do we get the other two legs to take on their roles?

There hasn’t been much comment on this because it is not an option for very many people.

I think the “trick” to charter schools, or magnet schools, or to private schools, is the feeling that the students there are “lucky” to be able to be chosen for the school. We humans seem to be motivated by a sense of one-upmanship. Parents who sacrifice for their kids to go to a “special” school seem to imbue their children with a sense of their good fortune in being a part of something different, something special.

Many students in our run of the mill schools know that they “get” to attend school no matter what, and they show that sense of entitlement in their behavior and attitudes.

Here is an experiment that I have done with a small group of students I teach (many times): I have 6 markers. 5 are one color and one is another. Which one do they all want? The “special” one, and it does not matter what color it is, even a generally non-preferred color. If it is different from the others, they consider themselves lucky to be able to use it.

By TheBlogger

October 9, 2008 10:36 PM | Link to this

catlady - I think that you hit the nail on the head….. unknowingly. You are right that this may be happening to some students.

But it should not.

Students should desire an education because their parents are involved and simply tell them so. That should be enough. There should not have to be a carrot for a student - and that is what you elude to.

In America today, students feel enabled to opinionate and their opinions are important. Clue everyone: the opinion of a 10 year old doesn’t matter. They don’t provide food for themselves. They don’t provide shelter or clothing for themselves. They don’t know what the world is about. They haven’t learned nearly enough for any opinion to matter. They haven’t had enough life experiences to know any better.

However, too many parents and adults treat 10 year olds as peers and not as children. So, those children have huge egos that are really useless.

Those children believe (because that was how they were raised) that if they don’t want to learn that day, they simply don’t have to. They feel that everything is owed to them and that they don’t have to work for anything - and that includes their grades in schools.

Maybe one good thing coming out of our collapsing economy is the halt of the spoiling of our children. It is ruining them and their future. Maybe, just maybe, this will wake up everyone to realize that life isn’t always a bowl of cherries and that one really does have to work to succeed.

By mmm

October 10, 2008 7:17 AM | Link to this

Tony, You are wrong about admissions criteria allowing the schools to pick and choose. This is true of magnets, but is a MAJOR difference between magnets and charters.

By Tony

October 10, 2008 7:59 AM | Link to this

The charter schools run by a nationally recognized organization that are located in other states routinely dismiss students from their schools for not meeting academic expectations. These students are then returned to the public schools.

In Georgia, one of the review items by local boards of education is the question about equal access for all students. The majority of rejected charter applications in our area of the state were based on the fact that not all students would have access to the school. However, in the eastern part of the state a charter plan was approved for an exclusive neighborhood to have their own schools apart from the local county schools. This means that for that district, the charter school does not provide equal access for all students. This could easily become a trend with the new charter committee at the state level.

By Tony

October 10, 2008 8:09 AM | Link to this

Catlady, your questions about getting the stool to stand on two legs are important.

First, a stool can stand on two legs if the legs are perfectly placed so the stool can balance. Unfortunately, it will always be precariously unstable.

The third leg involving the parents/students reflects the community’s value of education. This social ill can not be fully addressed by the school. Yet, we as educators are constantly blamed for all the problems that arise. It is very easy for people to blame schools and not accept personal responsibility for their own failures.

In steps the federal government with its efforts to make everyone equal, and we are told the simple solution is to improve parental involvement in the school. As catlady says, this is not so simple. In areas where poverty is high, many of these parents have no interest in schooling the children. Teachers will hear remarks like “He’s yours from 8-3. Don’t bother me.”

A report was released earlier this week that shows Georgia ranked 43rd in children’s wellness. Could there be a link between how we care for our children’s health and the poor performance of schools? There is plenty of evidence throughout the world that shows a clear link between the two. Perhaps it is time to begin addressing some of the problems in our society that we have chosen to ignore.

By catlady

October 10, 2008 10:33 AM | Link to this

Tony, I think the health issue is multilayered. Kids who are not well (esp not adequately fed nutritious food, not given restful sleep conditions, and not strongly encouraged to recreate) do not do well in school. Kids from families where education, child health, and adequate parenting are not stressed do poorly in school.

Now, do we have middle class kids who do not get the overall health attention they need in the above areas. I see many who are sluggish, and could have higher achievement and more enjoyment out of school if they “felt” better.

Many students, regardless of social class, do not have enough of their parents time and attention paid to them (of course, we have a few who have too much adult attention also) to ensure the maximum in wellness and achievement. Many parents spend long hours working and want little to do with their kids when they get home. They just want peace and quiet for themselves. Many parents also are too absorbed in their own lives (for example, dating) to put their children’s needs first. Relatively few kids sit down with their families to a hot, home-cooked, not-out-of-a-can meals each evening. Few kids go out and play catch (or some other such thing) with their dads after supper. Few kids curl up on the sofa and go over their homework with their parents. Few households turn off the tv and video games during the week. It seems like to me all these things are inter-connected.

Re that school you referred to in east Georgia—is that the “public” school in Reynolds Plantation? That has been quite a travesty to the “other” people of that area, hasn’t it?

Blogger, I agree with you. Unfortunately, few kids have those kind of parents. And few parents have given themselves the authority, from the get-go, to be such leaders in th eir own families.

By mmm

October 10, 2008 1:32 PM | Link to this

I agree that the Lake Oconee school is a travesty that could have functioned just fine without its selective enrollment areas. It triggered the reopening of racial wounds that are clearly still not dealt with in their county.

However, I have listed to debates about whether the rule should require that charter to explain how they will make sure that their population reflects the diversity of their “community” or their “district”—-and the plain simple fact is that our residential patterns mean that for any large district individual “neighborhood” schools usually do not reflect the full diversity of their district. And real estate agents make their living by maintaining this. Because charter school generally have attendance zones that are broader than traditional neighborhood schools, with proper policing and oversight, they might be part of the solution to this problem.

And I don’t disagree that bad behavior has gotten kids kicked out of places—-but if people are either not being admitted or are being asked to leave for ACADEMIC reasons, or because of any racial or SES bias, then it is a violation of the law, and please report it to the state DOE rather than just telling this blog that discrimination is the reason all charters exist.