Massachusetts - Charter school backers target cap

Boston Globe ^ | November 15, 2004 | Scott S. Greenberger

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Charter school advocates, emboldened by a major Beacon Hill victory last summer, want the Legislature to clear the way for more students to attend the quasi-independent public schools in Boston and dozens of other Massachusetts cities where waiting lists are large and growing.

Leaders of Boston's charter schools have met twice in the past month to weigh strategies for raising a state cap that limits the number of students who can attend charters in each school district. Boston reached the limit over a year ago, so existing charter schools cannot expand and no new ones can be created in the city, even though there are more than 6,000 students waiting to get into Boston's 18 charter schools.

A total of 152 communities around the state are at the ceiling. Currently, there are more than 15,000 students enrolled in 56 charter schools in Massachusetts.

"Parents and students are definitely banging on our doors to get in," said Michael Duffy, executive director of Boston's City On A Hill Charter School. The school, which has roughly 250 slots, has 325 students on its waiting list. "Right now, the window is closed as far as Boston is concerned, which forces charter schools to other areas around the state. But the issue is most compelling in a place like Boston, where a lot of families feel that regular district schools are not giving them what they need."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Teachers from Philippines arrive in Boston to teach math and science ***...Boston Teachers Union president Edward Doherty said he supports the city's hiring of foreign teachers if officials can't find anyone qualified locally. That's the case, Joyce said.

''We have an obligation to children to find the best math teachers we can find, wherever we can find them,'' he said.

At first it seemed as though the Philippine teachers wouldn't make it. Bureaucratic problems with obtaining visas for the teachers delayed their arrivalfor several weeks. US Representative Michael Capuano and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, both Massachusetts Democrats, worked with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to speed up the process.

''Their arrival means that a significant number of students will be able to get the good education they need and deserve,'' Kennedy said in a statement welcoming the teachers. ...***

[GeronL]

Charter schools are still pretty much government schools. They need real independent private schools for everyone.

[1FASTGLOCK45]

I thought Edwards andKeryy had said they were against outsourcing?? or in this case, Insourcing....

[Cincinatus' Wife]

"persistently dangerous" - School-safety rankings - or just black marks?***...***But national statistics of school crime, say experts, seem to indicate that more schools should qualify for the classification. In 2000, 72 of every 1,000 students ages 12 through 18 reported being victims of crimes at school. The average far exceeds most states' requirements for a dangerous school.

At the heart of the discrepancy may well be a reluctance on the part of educators to report campus crime fully. A survey by the National Association of School Resource Officers found that 89 percent of school police believe crime is already underreported. "It's the scarlet letter in education today," says Mr. Trump. "Administrators have said to me privately that they would rather be academically failing than be a dangerous school." ...***

[GeronL]

"Administrators have said to me privately that they would rather be academically failing than be a dangerous school." ...***

I would bet they are usually the same schools

[Cincinatus' Wife]

They work to hide figures about crime in their schools but now with NCLB they can't (without difficulty) hide that they're failing academically.

[NZerFromHK]

A government school with minimal government interference can often be as good as a fully private school. I attended one here in New Zealand a decade ago: it was unashamedly excellence-oriented - you are expected to do your best at school on academic and co-curricular areas. In fact, it was like attending a prep school without the private school-level fees! (Co-incidentially, my old school's headmaster has often been in loggerheads with the education bureaucrats and even education ministers)

I think charter school is the same, if you pull out all bureaucrat controls from the school itself.

[squirt-gun]

There is one "government" high school I know of where well over 90% of graduating students receive degrees from (not just attend) four year colleges.....year after year.

Public education may be hopeless, but there are some excellent public schools.

[sphinx]

Public education may be hopeless, but there are some excellent public schools.

There are many excellent public schools. Sometimes there is a miracle worker principal involved, or exceptional community support. More often, just like the bad schools, the good ones reflect the demographics of the communities they serve.

The problem in public education is not that it can't be done; it can. The problem, in far too many places, is that school boards and administrators refuse to do the necessary hard things to make the schools work. It's a governance problem, which is why school choice promises to be an effective remedy.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

It's common place for colleges to test incoming freshman in math, English and writing. They can't trust a high school diploma to guarantee an educated high school graduate. Grade inflation is rampant.

[grania]

Administrators have said to me privately that they would rather be academically failing than be a dangerous school." ...***

ROTFL...if it's a dangerous school, the administrators are not doing their job, which would be keeping things in control. Ever since the '70s, a huge part of the problem has been administrators who (1) aren't firm with the rules and (2) don't prefer that teachers very rigidly follow the discipline rule book.

Learning is something that students naturally will do, in a positive environment. It isn't going to happen if administrators treat learning and safe environments as a multiple choice question!

[mtbopfuyn]

Will someone please explain what is a charter school? We don't have them around here, so I'm guessing they're for honor students or are special studies schools?

Here, our honor students are grouped and attend advanced placement classes.

[mtbopfuyn]

Ours is an excellent public school district. It's rural and doesn't have some of the advantages found in the city, but we're very pleased with it. Glad to see there's someone else who recognizes public school isn't the hell most here claim it to be.

[Aquinasfan]

Charter schools are still pretty much government schools. They need real independent private schools for everyone.

Yeah. I think Governor Weld pushed charter schools and public school choice as a stepping stone toward vouchers. It may yet work.

In return for the legislation establishing these programs the MTA was able to push through the entire homo agenda, which Massachusetts students and parents are still paying for. In fact, there's a little-known provision in that original bill that calls for the establishment of UN clubs in high schools across the state. Nothing seems to have come of that, although when I visited the gym in my childhood elementary school a few years back I noticed an "earth flag" hanging from the rafters. I didn't notice a US or MA flag anywhere.

[Aquinasfan]

Will someone please explain what is a charter school?

It's a tax-funded state school. Its charter is granted directly by the state, not a town. They're not answerable to school boards. The legislature determines the number of charters to be granted annually. Although they have varied curricula, they cannot teach religion and have not been able to hire non-union teachers (in MA), so they're not significantly different from other government schools.

[ladylib]

Check out this article on homeschooling. Since homeschooling is starting to increase, there is going to be more criticism of it:

http://www.oweb.com/state/story/1115202004_staOH--HomeSchooling-O0212.asp

There is another article in Ohio.com. I read it once, but my computer crashed, so I can't access it. It's not very supportive of homeschooling and homeschooling statistics.

[Aquinasfan]

The tone of the article betrays the usual liberal hostility towards homeschooling.

leaving the power to educate and raise children solely to parents

Gasp!

I also noticed that the AP writer claims that no data exists regarding the performance of homeschoolers, since no government data exists. It's my understanding that homeschoolers consistently place in the 80th percentile on standardized tests.

It's reasonable to expect a battle with the teacher unions at some future date, but I'm not particularly concerned, for two reasons. I expect the movement to top out at 5% of all familes with school-age children because so many mothers work. Additionally, homeschoolers flexed their political muscle decisively in 1996(?) when they worked to kill an NEA-supported bill which would have required the licensing of all homeschooling parents.

[ladylib]

I think that public school officials are upset because they are now under so much scruitiny because of NCLB (homeschoolers are exempt from NCLB). They are determined that homeschoolers deserve the same scruitany.

I'd like to see them try to take on private schools.

[squirt-gun]

Re # 10

Yes, true, but even the quality of College training has declined, particularly in the non-science fields.

Nonetheless, an important measure of the quality of any high school is how many of it's students go to graduate from four year colleges.