Loving charter schools to death
by Frederick M. Hess and Michael Q. McShane
This week, education reformers on both sides of the aisle are banding together to celebrate National Charter Schools Week in a bipartisan kumbaya moment.
But before celebrating another expansion of school choice, advocates for innovation in education should seriously reflect on the compromises such expansion is requiring.
Charters were conceived as an alternative to underperforming public schools. This allowed educators and entrepreneurs space to create new schools and new teaching models. The fact that education dollars were now allowed to go to schools chosen by parents and children generated competition, better matched students' interests and needs, and gave teachers the opportunity to exercise their own judgment and be accountable for the results.
Slow to grow at first, charter school enrollment has doubled since 2006. Today more than 2.2 million K-12 students are enrolled in the 6,000 charter schools operating in 43 states across the nation and the District of Columbia. Ninety percent of students in New Orleans, and 43% in Washington, D.C. are educated in charter schools. Enrollment in charter schools could reach five million by the end of this decade.
.................
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario