PROS
Charter Schools Are Popular
Although Wake County already has the largest number of charter schools than any other county in North Carolina, those 13 charters can not come close to meeting the demand. For example, Raleigh Carter High School advises new students they have about a 13% chance of getting into the 535-member school. Applicants faced even worse odds attempting to enter Franklin Academy in Wake Forest. In 2009, 1,842 students competed for 123 open spots, which represents only a 7% acceptance rate. Even though the school expanded in 2010 to provide more openings, Franklin Academy reports that there are still about 2,000 students on its waiting list.
The existing charter schools only enroll a total of about 6,000 students. However, the high application rate indicates that many more families would choose a charter school for their children if there were additional space available.
Charter Schools Are Innovative
Freed from some of the regulatory restrictions of traditional public schools, charter schools can experiment with new approaches and curricula, although they must still conform to the NC Standard Course of Study and participate in End of Grade (EOG) Testing.
Charter Schools Outperform Traditional Schools
While national studies have not shown a clear academic advantage in comparing average charter school student performance to their peers in schools, charter schools in Wake County do seem to have better average test scores. According to the Wake Education Partnership, in 2007-08, 74% of students in Wake charters were performing at grade level, compared to 70% of general Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) students and 65% of students in public magnet programs. Similar results were reported in 2008-09, when 81% of Wake County charter students were at grade level, compared to 76% of WCPSS students and 65% of magnet students.
CONS
Charters Reduce Diversity
Charter schools are much more racially unbalanced than traditional Wake County schools. The Wake County Public School System reports that in 2010-11, approximately 50% of WCPSS students are White, 25% are Black, 15% are Hispanic, 6% were Asian, and 4% are mixed or other.
However, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction states that among the 13 charter schools in Wake County, seven have enrollments that are 75% or higher White students, while three others have enrollments that are 75% or higher Black students. Only three charter schools--Casa Esperanza, Southern Wake Academy, and Sterling Montessori--have a more racially mixed student population, although even those schools have a disproportionately high number of White students.
Charters Do Not Serve Low-Income or Special Needs Students
Charter schools receive a per-student payment for educational expenses, but not for building and facilities expenses. Therefore, they are not required to have cafeterias, nor must they participate in the free or reduced lunch programs designed to support low-income students.
Charters do not have to provide transportation for students, which can effectively eliminate students from families who do not live nearby and who not own a car or other means to get their children to school. Finally, charters do not have to offer services to students with special needs, such as learning disabilities or autism.
Charters Will Drain the Public Schools of Resource if Expanded Dramatically
Currently, Wake County charter schools only enroll about 6,000 students, compared to the 140,000+ students in the WCPSS. Thus, the issues of racial imbalances in charter school or the relatively small numbers of low-income or special needs students in charters don’t have a large impact on the entire school system. However, critics warn that as the program grows, it could continue to drain off the most affluent and successful students, leaving the public school system to deal with larger percentages of more challenging student populations, such as the low-income, non-English-speaking, and learning disabled students.
The last argument, "charters will drain public schools of resources" assumes The Public School System (the one and the only) is the default of public education.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty big assumption.
Also, there is an assumption that income-success connection, and large rich-poor gaps in learning success, are universal. This assumption comes from public school studies (The System). We know it's not true for homeschoolers. What other populations and education methods have weak outcome differences by socioeconomic class?
I should have stated that I am not necessarily advocating any of these positions. Rather, I am trying to have people know some of the statistics in Wake County that support whichever side.
ReplyDeleteSo, for example, the performance of charter schools nationwide have not been so good. Overall, (according to a national study done by Stanford University), less than 20% of charter schools outperform traditional public schools by a signficant percentage. However, on the other side, nearly a third of charter schools have a student average that indicates that the kids do worse than their peers in the schools.
But that seems not to be the case in Wake County.
Carol, it was clear from your write-up you were summarizing existing opinions. Interesting statistics on charter performance - I did not know that! It tells me there is no single "charter variable" correlating with high (or low) level of success. There are such variables in all styles of homeschooling: parental love, or Bloom's 2-sigma, or teacher choice of curriculum.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_2_Sigma_Problem
So, your data say charters don't form a single category for statistical analysis.
Exactly. I would say that nationwide, charter schools represent more of a hope of something better than a guarantee. Plus, their students are not representative of the "average" student population. Even without the issues of racial overrepresentation of certain ethnic groups, or the lower percentage or absence of low-income or special needs students, these students have parents who are concerned enough and knowledgeable enough to jump through the required hoops to get them into the charters. And greater parental involvement is one of the predictors of educational success.
ReplyDeleteCharter Schools Are Popular
ReplyDeleteThey are very popular. I think part of that popularity is the idea that families are able to "escape" the typical public system.
Charter Schools Are Innovative
Very much so. I think that a lot of people enjoy the "family" feeling that surrounds charter schools.
Charter Schools Outperform Traditional Schools
This one is big for me. I would really love to have a better understanding here. I have often thought that the families that send their kids to charter schools would outperform other families in a public setting. That is, strong students self select in.
Charters Reduce Diversity
I suspect this is due to the fact that it is not a negligible sacrifice to go to charter schools. No free/reduced lunch, volunteer requirements and no busing.
Charters Do Not Serve Low-Income or Special Needs Students
Again, I think families are self selecting in or out. Knowing that a school didn't have a strong special needs program, a parent of a special needs child may not even bother applying.
Charters Will Drain the Public Schools of Resource if Expanded Dramatically
I don't think it'll drain resources, but I firmly believe that it'll drain affluent families leaving larger pockets of lower income families in the public schools.
Great post!
Thanks for your kind words.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of understanding the performance statistics, it is a complicated picture. As you say, charter students are self-selected, and probably have more familial support than an "average" student, which statistically helps their grades and scores. However, not so much in Raleigh, but on a national scale, many charters are located in the "worst" school districts and are geared toward serving the poorest and least academically prepared students. Such charters may do significantly better than the traditional public school in that neighborhood, but because of the learning problems associated with low-income, non-English speaking, low parental educational achievment families, they may still fall below the "average" school for the entire school district.
The other thing is, education is a tough business. People have a lot of great ideas about transforming education, but they don't all work. One of the ideas behind charters is to try some different educational approaches on a small scale. But like any experiment, they aren't all going to pan out. So, to some extent, parents of children in charter schools, especially new ones, are taking a gamble: this new approach may work out better for their children than the traditional one, but it could also do worse--sometimes significantly worse. So far, at least on a national scale, there are more that have ended up doing worse than there are ones that have done better.