Posted on 08/12/2015 9:59:14 AM PDT by MichCapCon
A 1994 law introduced public charter schools to the state of Michigan. Since that time, about 30 percent of the charters that have opened their doors within the city of Detroit have been forced to close by their authorizers.
Over that period, 72 of the taxpayer-funded schools — otherwise known as "public school academies" — have been authorized in the city, including a few overseen by the Detroit school district itself. Of these 72 schools, 22 were later closed due to financial, academic or enrollment issues.
Unlike conventional public schools, charters have no semi-monopoly on educating children who live within a certain ZIP code. Instead, they must build their enrollment by appealing to parents who want something better for their children than what the local conventional public school provides. If a charter school fails to deliver, then parents are free to send their children somewhere else. If enough parents at a charter school do this, the school may be forced to close.
Also, if a charter school fails to meet the standards and conditions stipulated by the institution that chartered it — usually a state university — the school can lose its charter, and must then close.
“Unfortunately, there is a myth that charter schools don't close in Detroit,” said Audrey Spalding, the director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “But it's not true. A large number — 22 — of Detroit charter schools have closed for academic or financial reasons.”
Charter schools have been controversial here since the first ones began creating competition for the unionized conventional school districts that previously had a complete monopoly on state public education dollars. Most charters serve lower income populations that also experience lower educational attainment. Evidence suggests that despite the 22 closed schools (or perhaps because of them), charters have served Detroit families well.
The most recent evidence came in March from Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO). It found that students in Detroit charters are getting a better education in reading and math than their peers in the city’s conventional public schools. Specifically, for each year students spend in Detroit charter schools, they receive the equivalent of a few weeks to as much as several months of additional learning in reading and math.
Nevertheless, two proposals currently under active consideration could restrict or even shut down charter schools in the city. A proposal from Gov. Rick Snyder, and another by a group called the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren would essentially turn over decisions on whether and how many independent charter schools could exist in the Detroit area to the city's elected school board, which has traditionally been hostile to the competing institutions.
In contrast, the Great Lakes Education Project has proposed changes considered more friendly to Detroit charter schools.
"We need to reject the false narrative from the anti-choice crowd that poor-performing charter schools are running amok in the state,” said Gary Naeyaert, executive director of the Great Lakes Education Project. “The facts are that while more than 80 charter public schools have been closed for poor performance, not a single traditional public school has ever been shut down for academic failure.”
The authors of the Stanford CREDO charter school study said that Detroit charter schools should serve as a model for other communities. These scholars' research does not always favor charters, however. On July 22, CREDO released a study that found charter schools in Texas show less progress in both reading and mathematics compared to their conventional district peers.
Hasn’t Detroit lost a lot of population over the period of the study? Did they make any effort to control for that?
Yes but the Charter schools close because there is accountability. A public school can stumble along for decades eating young brains.
Not that many if you say it fast.
And the charter school situation? When the first few charter schools open in a city, they can be very choosy and not accept the discipline and academic problems. So, they drain the good students and send the dregs back to public schools. This skews the results of testing. But then, as more charter schools open in an area, they have to be less selective to fill seats and end up having problems of their own. And the beat goes on....
Nothing's going to change unless those with IQs under 110 (or so) get job training, life skills training and strict behavioral expectations as the basis of their public school education. They should have job and living skills when they finish grade 12. College is mostly a waste of time for those without the academic potential to succeed. And it holds the truly capable back, being stuck in college enviroments catering to the unqualified.
When both Success and Failure are options, you will get some Failure.
Public Schools on the other hand have no option for Failure, so the FAILING SCHOOLS OPERATE FOREVER.
Congratulations.
You read the article!
Nah. I’ve been commenting on threads without reading the article since 1998!
As a former consumer of the DPS I was glad to leave and go to Catholic school where we had 55 to 62 students per class’s and strict discipline
My Catholic grade school had close to 500 students at its peak in the early sixties. I was in some huge classes. Now the Catholic high school I went to has less students than my grade school had.
That is since 1950. The Charter law was written in 1994. Not exactly the same timeframe.
Not every charter school is good. Not every operator deserves to be in the business.
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