Accountability for Charter Schools – Broader BOLDER Approach to Education

BBA blogs on maximizing the benefits of charter schools

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:49:16 +0000

These blogs from BBA leaders and allies illustrate a range of issues related to charter school accountability, growth, and operation and offer suggestions to improve policies.

Pedro Noguera offers insightful and hopeful commentary on proposed Broad Foundation investments in charter schools in Los Angeles, the “epicenter of the fight over charters.” Noguera urges policymakers, educators, parents and other stakeholders to take this opportunity to design schools that genuinely meet the needs of all students, drawing on current research at what works and doesn’t in the charter school movement.
Richard Kahlenberg and Halley Potter of the Century Foundation write for Valerie Strauss’s Answer Sheet on how changes to charter school admissions rules would promote more integrated schools.

Charter schools and diversity

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:47:26 +0000

One particular concern is the potential for charter schools to exacerbate already-high levels of segregation. But as the Century Foundation’s 2012 report, Diverse Charter Schools, notes, smart policies can incentivize socioeconomically and racially integrated schools that provide civic, social, and cognitive benefits for all students, especially low-income and minority students.

2014 Annenberg report, Public Accountability for Charter Schools: Standards and Policy Recommendations for Effective Oversight

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:44:30 +0000

A 2014 report by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Public Accountability for Charter Schools: Standards and Policy Recommendations for Effective Oversight, pulls together both examples and data, finding that poor oversight limits academic innovation or excellence, widespread fraud and abuse, and little attention to equity. It offers standards and policy recommendations to level the playing field between traditional public and public charter schools and ensure that charters are transparent and accountable to the communities they serve.

Emerging trends in charter schools

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:42:57 +0000

The recent, rapid growth of the charter school sector has made it difficult for governments to keep pace, resulting in some emerging trends.

Several recent newspaper articles depict instances of fraud and abuse, due in large part to insufficient transparency and equity. These include Emma Brown’s Jan 2013 article for the Washington Post, C. Charter Schools Expel Students at Far Higher Rates than Traditional Public Schools; Stephanie Simon’s Feb. 2013 Reuters piece, Special Report: Class Struggle – How Charter Schools Get Students They Want; Edith Starszyk’s July 2013 Cleveland Plain Dealer article, White Hat Management’s Ohio Charter Schools in the Midst of Upheaval; and an October 2015 New York Times report of widespread push-out in Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy schools, At a Success Academy Charter School, Singling Out Pupils Who Have “Got to Go”

Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) Evaluation of Charter Schools

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:41:16 +0000

Because charter schools, like regular district schools, vary so much, it is very difficult to compare their impacts in valid ways. The most widespread study of charter schools across the US, which employs statistical techniques to conduct such comparisons is from the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO). Its most recent report finds slight improvements over earlier studies, modest gains overall. And while more low-income and otherwise disadvantaged students are now being served in charters, the substantial disparity across states indicates that policies on authorization, regulation, and monitoring are likely the biggest drivers of those differences.