Today’s Wall St. Journal reports on a new system in Newark that intends to “shut down that argument” that charter schools “ find ways to admit only the best students who apply, leading to higher test scores.” Under a policy proposed by Superintendent Cami Anderson, admissions to the city’s charter schools and traditional public would be combined.
A frequent refrain of anti-charter school advocates is that these autonomous schools serve proportionately lower number of children who are harder to teach: special education students, English Language Learners, students from the most impoverished backgrounds. For example, Save Our School-NJ claims that “most charter schools serve many fewer students with Limited English Proficiency, fewer very low-income students, and fewer special needs students, especially those with high needs.”
The new Newark policy would repudiate that claim by combining admissions to all city public schools, traditional and charter.
Ryan Hill, executive director of TEAM Charter Schools, a network of five charters with about 1,800 students, said the new system would take some control out of his organization’s hands, but it could be worth it.
“We don’t like people claiming that we serve easier-to-serve populations, even though we can prove that we don’t,” he said. “This should put the nail in that coffin. We’ll see.”
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From the WSJ:'“It would encourage a broader access to quality schools from across the city and not just those children whose parents happen to see the flier or happen to go to the information session,” State Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf said.'
So conventional Newark public schools are low quality? Aren't you and Cami Constitutionally-mandated to make sure they're 'thorough and efficient'?
P.S. Charter schools draw upon students whose families encourage 'learning discipline' and appreciate the value of the opportunity to surround their kids with the like-minded. Mandating the inclusion of a few of those who don't is not going to change the outcome materially for anybody.
Kallikak,
Do you suppose there are a lot of families in Newark who don't appreciate learning discipline or the value of an opportunity? Because there aren't. Every parent in Newark wants what's best for their child, just like parents everywhere. The notion that poverty somehow makes some parents not care about the education of their kids is baffling to me.
There appear to be plenty of better-off parents in the suburbs who don't have much invested in their kids' schooling. Hard to see why Newark or any other place would be different.
If what you say is true, then the new teacher evaluation metric is going to cut a real swath through Newark's teaching ranks.