What is the Tax Payer Getting? Much more.
“Charter schools need to tell taxpayers what they are getting for their money.” The headline is from the March 24 StarNews editorial. As a founder of local charter schools, I agree 100 percent; surely everyone agrees that taxpayers should know what they are getting for their money. And they are getting much more for their money. Continue reading
Edville, USA – The hue and cry for our schools to produce students who are “21st Century Globally Competitive” now stretches from sea to shining sea across our great nation. Continue reading
Although charter schools are subjected to the same accounting standards and annual auditing that govern traditional schools, they are not required to invade the privacy of their employees by publishing their salaries. Continue reading
Grading Children at a Play
(with apologies to Robert Frost)
Whose son this is I think I know,
His mom is in the lockup, though.
She will not see me judging here
To watch her boy’s skit win the show. Continue reading
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow. Continue reading
For many years, North Carolina’s public schools have lagged far behind the national average in college-bound SAT scores. Since 1998, however, that gap has steadily shrunk in direct proportion to the number of students enrolled in charter schools. By 2012, the gap has closed to nearly nothing.
The link to a graph of scores and enrollment and the table of data values is here: SAT and Enrollment
From a year-after-year gap of -40 points trailing the national average, the gap has closed to only -4 points in 2012 during the same period that charter school enrollment rose from 0 to 49,000. The statistical correlation coefficient for these data is over 0.98, where 1.0 is perfect.
The cause of this rise in SAT scores could be due to the competition posed by charter schools to the traditional districts. And the more that charters were competing for students, the more that traditional districts had to put their game faces on, quit making excuses, and take education more seriously.
Correlation does not prove causation, but what other change in the North Carolina educational landscape occurred that could account for this very significant improvement?
For a national study on the effects of charter competition on district schools see http://educationnext.org/competition-with-charters-motivates-districts/ “Competition between charter schools and traditional public schools for students may induce a constructive reaction, an obstructive reaction, or no response,” states the article, and they examine cases in each category.
As a longtime supporter of charter schools, I am relieved to watch bi-partisan legislators as they assist this popular and proven system for school improvement and further enhance it as a force for strengthening public education for all children in North Carolina.
Background: After the Declaration of Independence created the 13 independent states, The Articles of Confederation began being drafted shortly afterward in 1776. Finally ratified in 1781, many recognized that the central government was too weak. In 1786, a convention was held to draft a new constitution, and our present Constitution became effective on March 4, 1789.
At the convention, a heated debate centered on the strength of the central government relative to the strength of the sovereign states. The debate on this topic was fueled by an armed uprising Continue reading
Whenever the topic of charter school policy and legislation comes up, someone always manages to bring up the idea of “Multiple Authorizers.” Continue reading
