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A good idea for the future?
We start with new coverage of Ohio House Bill 205, currently pending in the Education Committee. It would make some changes to the infrastructure of student teaching in charter and district schools across the state, including giving schools the ability to pay those educators-in-training and to provide them health insurance benefits. Data and analysis of the bill from Fordham’s Jessica Poiner is linked in the piece, and her colleague Aaron Churchill says the bill is worthy of a discussion, as the teacher pipeline needs good candidates, and supporting them more financially could work to boost their numbers. The piece overall feels a bit too optimistic, given that the bill has been sitting without a hearing since April and does not appear to be a priority for legislators when they return from summer break.
A response to the response
Two weeks ago, we covered two opposing viewpoints on the question of whether charter schools are overregulated and, specifically, whether the inherent flexibility of the charter model is stifled by what regulations exist. Now we have a third viewpoint—from Thibaut Delloue, a Policy Fellow at the Florida Charter Institute—siding more with the idea that some regulation is essential. He specifically believes that regulations in three areas—academic standards, curricula, and assessments—are key to a functional and successful charter school sector. “When good, research-backed policy is effectively implemented,” he writes, “it works for all schools.”
The view from the top
The top two spots on U.S. News & World Report’s newly-released list of best public high schools in America belong to charter schools, and there are numerous others in the top 20. A trio of charter school supporters explained to Education Next, using research findings and anecdotal evidence, why such rankings are important, what it means to be an academically intensive charter school like those at the top of the list, and why everyone should pay attention to what these schools are getting right.
Legacy
This week marks a somber anniversary: twenty years since Hurricane Katrina devastated large parts of the city of New Orleans. Among other lessons learned over this time, pundits and analysts around the country have paid close attention to how the city has rebuilt a school system all but wiped out by the disaster. Ravi Gupta, founder and CEO of nonprofit media company The Branch and former charter network leader, digs deeply into research, journalism, and real-life experiences to tell the story of schools, students, and families of New Orleans. It’s a remarkable look at an unprecedented case of constructing a whole new system in place of one that most observers agree was less-than-perfect in its original form. And charter schools played an oversized role in that rebirth. This detailed analysis is well worth your time and attention.
Is the charter school sector “cooling”?
A new paper from the National Center for Charter School Accountability reports that expansion of and demand for charter schools is waning across the country due to a combination of financial trouble, regulatory creep, and enrollment decline. The authors call their findings “sobering," but they are more accurately par for the course for an anti-charter school organization like NCCSA, funded by teachers unions. Forbes senior contributor Peter Greene seems to accept this analysis at face value--also not surprising--but does note helpfully that charters are “by and large businesses” and should behave as such if growth is desired. Sounds like a plan!
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