Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Dayton gets noticed in education
Sorry for the sparse postings this week. I’ve been a little under the weather.
A friend alerted me to a mention of Dayton as a school choice leader in a New York Times story today about vouchers. The Times seems to have gotten new figures on school choice in major cities.
They correctly note that Dayton is up to about 28 percent of all schoolchildren using choice options, which in our case means attending charter schools. That’s still No. 1 in the country, and with the new availability of vouchers here this fall that figure could go even higher.
The story says Washington, D.C., is close behind with 25 percent of kids using choice options. Then the numbers fall off dramatically. Houston, at 12 percent, is the only other city cited in the story that is in double figures. (The Times may have overlooked Detroit. I don’t know the percentage there off hand, but I know it is growing quickly.)
I’m not intimately familiar with D.C.’s program, but my impression is that the funding is different and the city school system there is more insulated from market forces than cities like Dayton and Detroit. But as the percentage of kids that try choice grows, especially in big cities, there will be more national media stories about how markets affect students and schools. And other cities would do well to learn the lessons Dayton can offer.
The choice movement here has brought good and bad. And certainly it puts Dayton in the spotlight.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
Comments
By charm
April 10, 2006 3:51 PM | Link to this
This is a very interesting topic— I think oldprof’s citation that parents aren’t choosing based on quality is a true statement, and a crucial observation for the school choice debate. In order for choice to work, parents need to be informed about what academic quality is and what is looks like in Dayton schools. Since choice already exists in the system, I think this is the place to have the most impact right now. Empower parents to understand school quality, and they will not only choose based on it, but they will learn to be motivated to improve their schools once they have made a choice. This is my vision for Dayton parents. It’s a big process, but I think that over time, parents can learn to make truly informed decisions about their kids’ education, both in the choice process and beyond.By Rick
April 9, 2006 9:33 AM | Link to this
Mary, I was disappointed in Oldprof’s post. He wants to go back to having unaccountable government monopoly schools. He believes we need to keep pouring money into them and to keep parents out. I guess he believes children can be more easily indoctrinated without partnes. Your use of the word totalitarianism was appropriate.By Mary
April 8, 2006 3:25 PM | Link to this
Old prof, your comments about parents are suspicious. It sounds as if you want complete autonomy over children and all education monies. Power must really be intoxicating. Your concept of what the public education system should be and educating another person’s child sounds somewhat arrogant and holier than thou. It sounds as if you need a good course on the concepts of freedom and democracy and the dangers of totalitarianism. We, not the education system, are the parents. Remember your place in the big scheme and you will be respected.By Oldprof
April 8, 2006 9:45 AM | Link to this
But competition is failing! Voucher students in Cleveland didn’t perform better. Charter schools usually perform worse than public schools nearest them. Every year that a child is sent to be a subject in this school choice experiment is a year when that child falls behind in the progress of education. Note that Susan Bodary recognized publicly that parents aren’t “choosing” schools based on quality of education. What we REALLY need is proper support for public education; safe classrooms, smaller class sizes, insultation of teachers from “helicopter parents” and their interferance. Imposing competition will only turn education into a clone of the airlines and auto manufacturers—and the kids who wind up in GM or Delta rather than in Honda or Southwest will be, to cite an unpopular phrase, “Left Behind”.By Rick
April 7, 2006 6:36 PM | Link to this
Dang, Oldprof, I agree with you. Individual motivation is what is needed. Motivation for the parents and students. And that does not require huge sums of money. You state we do not need “legislative experimentation.” We need more choices; we do not need the failed monopoly of public schools. We need competition.By Oldprof
April 6, 2006 10:21 PM | Link to this
Come on, what “good” have charters done for Dayton? Their performance is no better than other nearby public schools. Often they’re an embarassment. It’s well known that there are basically two levels of education in the USA: suburban/rural/private schools, where parents invest energy in getting their children to learn, and inner-city schools, where the culture disparages education. What we learn from charters is that changing the administrative and funding structure doesn’t fix the root problem. I should note that I’m a graduate of a school system that was plagued by violence and that led the nation in dropout rate—yet I’ve risen to the highest levels of education. Individual motivation is what’s needed—not legislative experimentation.