A Case for Charter Schools?

Published April 20, 2009 @ 11:15AM PT

[Jessica Shiller is an assistant professor of education and coordinator of the master’s program in teaching social studies at Lehman College, City University of New York.]

Charter schools, one of the most hotly-debated policy issues in education policy today, has divided proponents who see charters as an innovative way to improve student achievement and the opponents who see charters as death sentences for teacher unions and community voice in schools. Raise the topic in any gathering and you will find people fiercely arguing both sides. Yet, the debate as it has currently been framed misses the boat almost entirely. Whether you're for or against charters, the question to ask about charters is: Who benefits?

The data shows mixed results on charter performance with some showing incredible achievement gains, and others not showing any. In the end, there is no clear evidence that charters on the whole are better than a well-performing public school. That is why charter schools are mainly absent from suburban communities where well-performing schools are easy to find. It is not that suburbs are resistant to charters, but like any community with well-performing schools, they are content with what they do have. Why shouldn't they be? By and large, in middle class suburbs across the nation, schools are performing well. So well, in fact, that urban parents will risk getting arrested to get their children into those schools.

As a result, charter school advocates have carved out a niche in the under-served urban communities across the country. In cities, where schools and neighborhoods have been under-resourced for some time, residents cannot claim that their schools are doing so well they do not need charters. Just the opposite is true, which makes the charter school movement hard to resist. Consequently, charter schools have proliferated in cities. And why not invite charter schools in, many might ask, since public schools were not performing so well there anyway? With urban parents literally "crossing the border" for better schools, it is clear that they want better performing schools too.

But are charters the answer to a better education? Proponents say that charters can provide a 21st century education, one that allows teachers to engage in innovative practices, use technology effectively, and manage without bureaucratic red tape. These are not radical innovations, and already have been implemented in regular public schools in New York, where I am from, but also in other cities. So, again why are charter schools being pushed so hard as the silver bullet?

The answer lies in our initial question - who benefits? Obviously some families have benefited from charter schools, but the venture philanthropists who start charters have benefited too. In New York, many of them have received millions of dollars through no-bid contracts from the city, and stand to get millions more in stimulus package funding promised by Obama and Duncan.

With clear evidence that charter schools' so-called innovations can be implemented in regular public schools, we need to ask why charters are necessary. It would be naive to think that charter proponents are only motivated by a desire for a 21st century education for all children. There is a lot of money in it for the charter founders. Just like with many education reforms that preceded charters, a trend is set, dollars flow, and reformers come from all around to exclaim its virtues.

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Comments (11)

Heck, as long as the venture philanthropists want to make these major changes, why don't they transform urban police departments into a charter system, too?

http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/2009/04/why-not-charter-system-for-police.html

Posted by Sharon Higgins on 04/20/2009 @ 12:32PM PT
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I teach for a charter school in rural Northern California. Our school serves a large number of kids completely unhappy with the local traditional schools. (side note - my 10 year old son goes to the local traditional school - I believe that is where he will get the best education) The schools here do a poor job of protecting students from bullying, dealing with problem students and conflicts between teachers and students, and students who have trouble completing their homework. Their answer always seems to be punitive, rather than tring to find ways to solve the problem in a positive way. I am happy to provide a safe, nurturing, small group environment for these at risk kids. If the local schools did (or were allowed to do) a better job dealing with these situations our school would not be in business.

We are NOT run as a large business; we were created by a local school district. Our superintendent was a classroom special ed teacher for years who realized that there is a population of kids whose needs were not being met. I agree that "following the money" is usually a healthey exercise, and that schools should not be run for the benefit of anyone else but the students and society at large. Just be careful when painting charter schools with a broad brush. I am sure there are some bad ones, but there also some effective ones, just like traditional schools, or doctors, or lawyers, or anything really.

I am tired of being looked at as the enemy by some teachers and administrators in traditional schools. We are doing our best to serve an underserved group. I am sure that some charter founders make a bunch of money, but not all of them. Most of us are just trying to help kids keep from falling through the cracks.

Posted by Kirk Miller on 04/20/2009 @ 04:02PM PT
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Can you spell out more about who you think is financially benefiting from charter schools? That article isn't accessible here. And then, could you explain how this is any different from every other conceivable policy as to any issue whatsoever. For example, when the government spends more money on remodeling schools to be "green," then there are lots of businesses, including new ones springing up, that will make money from consulting schools, certifying green compliance, doing the construction, etc. That's not even close to being an argument that building "green" schools is somehow a bad idea.

As for Sharon's point: The reason the police analogy doesn't apply is because you wouldn't want 10 or 20 different police forces operating in the same geographic area, because there would be constant confusion over who had the final authority, who to call in case of emergency, etc.

But there's no reason that one school needs a monopoly over public funding in any particular geographic area. People have MANY different preferences (from curriculum, to teaching style, to size of school, to prominence of sports programs, to availability of arts instruction, or dozens of other factors) that cannot possibly all be satisfied within every school . . . which is precisely why it makes sense to let people have more options and choices. And if you believe in public funding of education at all, there's no a priori reason to stiff all of the people whose preferences don't fit in with the majority's.

Posted by Stuart Buck on 04/21/2009 @ 10:26AM PT
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If one wants an example of charter public service, just look at how well individual fire companies performed in the 19th century. People weren't too happy that while their house was burning competing fire companies were arguing over who would put it out.

I think Sharron's post and argument leads to another point. Oakland police charters failed because it failed to adress other things that needed to be reformed as well. Anyone who comes out and says "if all schools were charters things would be stellar" or "merit pay'll solve it" is short sighted, narrow minded, and something P.T. Barnum claimed was born every minute.

What we need is comprehensive reform. We need to analyze each school and each district, noting what specialized needs aren't being adressed in each. Blanket reform would be like a sergeon saying that because you have a bad knee he was going to replace your whole lower torso.

I'll repete it again, there is no magic reform potion. It isn't that simple. There is hard serious work to be done. Put you ideologies in your pockets, roll up your sleves and dig in people.

Posted by Derek Viger on 04/21/2009 @ 06:15PM PT
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I am really happy that the post I wrote has produced a dialogue about charters. Unfortunately, I think the respondents, some of whom have personal ties to charters, have missed my point.
Of course there is no magic reform, and as an urban educator in NYC public schools for over 15 years, I have rolled up my sleeves- taught and developed strong programs in public schools. The funny thing is that people seem to think that only charter schools can do innovative things. I believe it is the places in this country that do not have a history of small schools and/or a history of progressive public schools that think charters are THE answer. I urge those people to study the history of progressive public schools in NYC. There is much to learn. The innovations that "traditional" schools are thought to be incapable of happen in regular public schools in New York.

Also, since this came up in the comments: For anyone seeking more information about kickbacks and no-bid contracts in charters in NYC, you can visit NYCPublicEyes.org to see the list of organizations benefitting from the charter expansion in New York.

Posted by jessica shiller on 04/22/2009 @ 07:31AM PT
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But that latter point is really about whatever regulations might govern competitive bidding in New York, not about charter schools per se (there or anywhere else). Right?

Posted by Stuart Buck on 04/22/2009 @ 10:10AM PT
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Actually not really. You should take a look at a book called Keeping the Promise which tracks charter movements in different cities across the country. Lack of competitive bidding, kickbacks, and corruption are part of the charter school business in many places. In New York, the rules of competitive bidding have been ignored. In other cities, there are no rules governing the charter process. Leaves it open to nepotism and corruption.

Posted by jessica shiller on 04/22/2009 @ 07:39PM PT
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Your "NYCPublicEyes" link isn't very helpful . . . it mostly concerns community organizations, tutoring programs, consulting programs, etc.

Even if all of these organizations somehow have something to do with charter schools (which certainly isn't clear from the link), those are just anecdotes. To have any reliable knowledge here one needs a nationally representative sample, and then a comparison group. That is, do cities and states always follow competitive bidding regulations as to the consulting organizations, tutoring organizations, etc. that sometimes serve other public schools?

Posted by Stuart Buck on 04/23/2009 @ 08:13AM PT
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Your "NYCPublicEyes" link isn't very helpful . . . it mostly concerns community organizations, tutoring programs, consulting programs, etc.

Even if all of these organizations somehow have something to do with charter schools (which certainly isn't clear from the link), those are just anecdotes. To have any reliable knowledge here one needs a nationally representative sample, and then a comparison group. That is, do cities and states always follow competitive bidding regulations as to the consulting organizations, tutoring organizations, etc. that sometimes serve other public schools?

Posted by Stuart Buck on 04/23/2009 @ 08:13AM PT
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NYCPublicEyes actually lists many organizations including private consulting groups, cafeteria vendors, and janitorial services in addition to the ones you mentioned. You're raising an important point. To date there is no study on the no bid contracting across cities. If you are poised to do such a study, you should because it would provide an excellent source of data. I do know that Chicago public schools got in hot water a few years back when it gave out no bid contracts to tutoring companies to meet NCLB requirements so it is not unprecedented. The point is why would you not want to follow competitive bidding regulations unless you are trying to circumvent public input in some way?

Posted by jessica shiller on 04/23/2009 @ 08:47AM PT
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Well, I guess I'm trying to understand what you think the evidence is as to charter schools in particular (since that was the subject of the post), and how this differs from the evidence as to public contracting for anything else.

The NY Public Eyes link mentions one charter school, but it also mentions no-bid contracts to Publicolor (which has repainted over 100 public schools), NYC Outward Bound (whose webpage advertises "partners in improving public schools"), and the like.

So does this prove that public schools are full of "nepotism and corruption"? Apparently so. What of it, though?

Posted by Stuart Buck on 04/23/2009 @ 12:02PM PT
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Author

Jessica Shiller is an assistant professor of education and coordinator of the master’s program in teaching social studies at Lehman College, City University of New York. Her research interests include urban school reform, social justice education, community activism and youth, and education policy. She has taught courses in urban education, foundations of education, social studies methods and history.