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Charter schools taking root
It’s been a rocky ride, but Cleveland’s charter schools are finally taking root–and with great success, which is giving families reason to stay in the impoverished city:
When Citizens’ Academy surveyed its parents, more than 40 percent said the school — consistently among the state’s top performers — played an integral role in their decision to remain in Cleveland. To Perry White, the East Side charter school’s director, that means successful schools are as much an economic development issue as an education issue.
“To stem the exodus of families from Cleveland, we must leverage our best public schools — charter and district — as catalysts for creating neighborhoods of choice,” White said. “The future of our city and region depends on it.”
Plain Dealer reporter Scott Stephens says, “That kind of symbiotic relationship between parents and schools, which died in some neighborhoods decades ago, could be the greatest legacy of the charter movement.” And if successful schools are as much an economic issue as an education issue, how can critics continue to claim that supporting charter schools is “bad business”?
back to top4 Comments to “Charter schools taking root”
Charter schools are a key building block in a choice strategy for schools. We get better educational results (and more parental involvement) when parents get to choose. One experience with charters has been that they do tend to draw from religious schools — parents who otherwise would have sent their child to a Christian school, select the charter (and save money).
While teacher unions still make noises about charters, the reality on the ground is that increasingly these schools are considered as part of the educational fabric. They’re getting “normal” and that’s good.
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My husband teaches at a charter school. At his school, he tends to get a lot of the “problem” students who aren’t making it in regular public schools. Parent involvement seems slightly higher, since he has a great turnout at conferences. However, he still has a student failing his class because he doesn’t feel like getting up and getting class on time – my parents wouldn’t have allowed that! The smaller class sizes are great, and he doesn’t have to join the teacher’s union. On the other hand, his pay is only 80% of the public school’s pay – not good.
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If the teachers and the kids are succeeding at charter schools, then the teachers should be getting paid more. That’s how it works in most jobs.
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You’d think, wouldn’t you? But it’s government, so you know how efficiently and logically that works! I think a little competition always makes things better. If standard public schools can’t keep their students because of charter schools or private schools, they had better shape up. Otherwise, they will be rendered obsolete and disappear. Survival of the fittest.
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