by Brian
In the comments to my recent post I suggested that charter schools might be part of the solution to the perceived shortcomings of our educational system. There were some good, challenging questions to that position.
I am not a champion for charter schools, but I have found one, and he is persuasive, at least to me. Not to say I'm persuaded, but he made me think more deeply about their potential.
Wasting Minds (ASCD books)is a new book by Ronald A. Wolk. (The title pays homage to the slogan of the advertising campaign of the United Negro College Fund: A mind is a terrible thing to waste.) In it he challenges 9 assumptions that are leading us down the road of our current reform efforts. One is that all students should take Algebra in 8th grade, and higher-order math in high school. The reason for that assumption is that the United States is not producing enough scientists and engineers. Wolk says that "is like assuming that requiring all high school students to take a few courses in painting will make them artists."
He actually hooked me in the introduction when he said that he no longer believes that education research can inform the decisions we need to make. Everyone chooses the results that supports their position, and ignores opposing results.
My bachelor's degrees are in botany and zoology, and I have a master's degree in science education. I too have noticed that "research" can support just about anything in education, particularly when it validates the researcher's hypothesis. So I agree with Wolk that research is a "weak reed". What we need to trust is our own experience, logic, and common sense.
Wolk has plenty of all three. He founded and was the former editor of Education Week, Teacher Magazine, and Quality Counts. He was never a teacher himself, but he has probably spent as much time reading, thinking and writing about education issues as anyone over the last 30 years. His conclusion: "Our present system of public education cannot be transformed. It is too complex, too political, and too personal for major systemic change to occur." How else can we explain the fact that after 25 years (since A Nation at Risk) of concerted effort schools are performing at just about the same level?
He does not suggest that we give up on existing schools. He is realistic is his appraisal that "the existing system will be the primary institution for educating most of our children for many years to come". But he argues persuasively that the best hope for truly reforming education is to have a parallel strategy that we pursue simultaneously to create new schools, including, but not limited to charter schools.
In the second half of his book Wolk lays out 8 alternative assumptions that we will need to make in order to transform our schools. In Chapter 14, for example, he asserts that multiple measures of student learning would be a far better and fairer way to evaluate student performance than standardized tests. He says "We have an assessment system that can be used to compare and hold schools accountable, but it is a lousy measure of real learning and personal growth. We need an assessment system that demonstrates student mastery and encourages good habits of mind and behavior even though it is not useful for comparison and accountability."
Washington state has voted against charter schools, but then we also voted against an income tax on the very wealthy, and voted to repeal a tax on soda pop and candy that has made our current budget crisis much worse. So I don't think that the case can be made that we always vote for our own best interests.
Wolk may or may not be right about charter schools, but his book is profoundly thought provoking, and provides a great framework for continuing the debate. I highly recommend it.
I may be entirely too idealistic about this. But about 10 years ago a group of us here in Sequim got excited about the possibility of starting our own charter school. We were all of a like mind about what a good school should be, and we were excited by the possibility of working together.
Imagine a public school where all the teachers like each other and share a common vision. Not a vision created by break-out groups in a faculty meeting, with sticky note on a white board deciding the winner, but a vision of committed, like-minded people, really making autonomous decisions about what the school should be, and do.
It didn’t happen here, and the the voters of the state took away the possibility. But I’m haunted by “what if…?”
What if it was us, instead of “them”, that created a great, small, public school? Do we really need to give up that possibility in order to prevent others from creating schools that they like, and we don’t?
There is no guarantee that my friends and I would have been successful, but I would like other accomplished teachers to at least have the chance to try.
I just worry that until we get rid of Republicans with agendas to provide “choice” through vouchers and charter schools, charter schools can be used to pay the way for rich kids to attend the best schools. I can’t get over how much support there seems to be out there to pay the way of the rich either through tax cuts for the extremely wealthy or through vouchers for everyone, including the wealthy. So when Johnny gets a voucher or the “choice” to attend the best charter in town either the charter has to accept Johnny (hope he qualifies!) or Johnny’s name goes into the lottery. At least with the lottery Johnny has a chance, huh?
So I’m not convinced charter schools are the best way to fix or reform education. They are one idea but until the middle class can reclaim its power and not fall for “choice” or voucher schemes then I don’t trust it. It will take from the poor and middle classes and take from public education so that those children who have to attend public school end up with a substandard education. In this country everyone has the right to a quality education, or at least I thought they did.
Charter schools are a short-term solution to a long-term problem. They treat the symptom without addressing the cause.I can’t blame families for choosing charter schools; there are neighborhoods in which that may be the only reasonable choice, but the fact that some families choose charter schools means that something went wrong somewhere, and it means we need to fix something, not put better paint over it.
Besides that, despite the fact that charter schools skim off the most functional and empowered families, they don’t seem to be doing much better than their non-charter “competitors.”
My point is why can’t we be innovative in the current school system in the state?
Arne Duncan loved the school he visited, my community has an alternative school, and magnet schools exists.
What can’t we do?
My friend works in a Chicago charter school, and he said the only real change was not being in a union.
Not yet 🙂
This is what Wolk says:
“Because districts have a poor record in establishing innovative, unconventional schools (with some notable exceptions), charter schools are a central part of a new-schools strategy for improving student learning. They are public schools and receive public funds; they are exempt from some regulations but must meet state standards and comply with equity and safety provisions. Often they are not required to unionize.
Chartering laws have made it possible to create new public schools that are different from traditional public schools and from each other. By providing different models of schooling, they begin to accommodate the diversity of today’s student body and offer alternatives to the batch-process delivery of one-size-fits-all education to all students. At their best, charter schools are creative and committed, succeeding with the most disadvantaged students.”
Charter schools are public schools, so the way you frame your question continues to be confusing. And why does continuing to do what we have been doing, only louder, seem like a better idea?
I may be an old dog, but I’m willing to try to learn new tricks, if they will help my students.
What does he say a charter school can do that a public school is unable to do?
(Sick of me yet?)
🙂