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With critics continuing to battle over education initiative Race to the Top, a program that rewards top-performing schools with financial incentives, many parents instead are opting to send their children to charter schools.In New Orleans, standardized test scores for fourth-, eighth- and- tenth-grade public school students have gone up since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 and devastated the public school system.
And according to a report by theGrio, this may have something to do with the increasing presence of charter schools.
And the success of charter schools has been on the radar for both parents and teachers for a few years now.
Ayanna Taylor, an English major and University of Pennsylvania graduate who chose to teach with Teach for America after graduating from school, landed at a charter school:
"The difference with the charter school was in the efficiency of how the school was managed," says Taylor who worked for North Star Academy Charter School in Newark, N.J., part of the Uncommon Schools Network.
"The organization was very high-performing and well-managed. It makes a difference in your growth as a professional and your daily experiences. My principal was a great manager in my former school, but we still had to deal with bureaucracy and unions that sometimes makes being an effective teacher very difficult. Charter public schools are structured to eliminate those barriers."
Charter school success stories are taking place in traditionally low-performing areas, such as Washington, D.C.; Detroit; and New Orleans. The SEED school in Washington, D.C., for instance, has students enter three grades below their grade level. This year, SEED reported a 100 percent graduation- and- college-acceptance rate.
"The organization was very high-performing and well-managed. It makes a difference in your growth as a professional and your daily experiences. My principal was a great manager in my former school, but we still had to deal with bureaucracy and unions that sometimes makes being an effective teacher very difficult. Charter public schools are structured to eliminate those barriers."
Charter school success stories are taking place in traditionally low-performing areas, such as Washington, D.C.; Detroit; and New Orleans. The SEED school in Washington, D.C., for instance, has students enter three grades below their grade level. This year, SEED reported a 100 percent graduation- and- college-acceptance rate.
In New Orleans, Mays Prep Charter School, founded in 2009 and located in the Desire community, has had a similar experience. Its students, more than 90 percent African American, were underserved and underperforming, and only half of them graduated high school in four years. In the five years since Hurricane Katrina, though, standardized test scores have gone up considerably. According to theGrio, the majority of public schools in the city are now charters.
Another example would be Orleans Parish. In 2005, Newsweek had it as the second worst-performing school district in the state, and in some schools, 30 percent of seniors had dropped out over the course of the year. With students coming out of charter schools in that area now, Leslie Jacobs, a New Orleans education-reform advocate, says that by the end of the 2010–11 academic year, the dropout rate will be less than one-third and more than 70 percent of New Orleans public schools students will attend charter schools.
Randall McKnight, who is now a program director for Teach for America, taught in traditional public schools in New Orleans for two years. He told theGriot that while charters may be a solution to current failing schools, he's not convinced a 'takeover' will serve all parties well:
"I don't think the charter model, like 90 percent charters, is going to be for everybody," McKnight said. "It's not like public schools are failing everywhere."
Bradley agrees, "It's about choice for parents." "And that not only means great charter schools, but that's also traditional district schools, parochial schools and independent schools."
Watch the effect of charter schools after Hurricane Katrina here:
Watch the effect of charter schools after Hurricane Katrina here:
Comments: (3)
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By: VL Williamson on 8/29/2010 11:28AM
We have to be careful that we don't flood and/or saturate school districts with charter schools. Remember that a free and appropriate public education is a fundamental right for all children of American. What we see happening in New Orleans is the result of an attrition rate caused by Hurricane Katrina. The schools system now has a much lower enrollment, better schools (since many had to be rebuilt), lower class size, and better quality teaching which can be attributed to all of the above. Charter schools are a fallacy because actually do no better than a regular school that has the same viability and availability of resources.
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By: rasfanta on 8/30/2010 1:57AM
I have mixed feelings about charter schools. On the one hand I feel they are picking up the slack in providing education not received in then public school system. On the other hand, I feel charter schools are an effort to privatize the public school system. Like they have privatized medicine. These are entities that should not be privatized. I cried yesterday when I saw the despair of the people at the superdome after hurricane katrina. Imagine, it took 4 days for the government of this country to provide water to those poor men, women and children. 4 fuc-ing days. This proved to me the disdain this government has for black people in this country. There is no reason to be loyal to a country that hates us. God is going to punish this country.
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By: BigEll on 8/31/2010 3:54AM
Have no fear Rasfanta, He already has, it's just that the effects of his wrath has not been realized as of yet. But it's in place. Listen to some of these so called tv preachers, john Hagee, as an example, in my opinion, all of a sudden, has this revelation that our black President should attack Iran, when neither Bush did it,that President Obama hates Jews,due to a different approach to protocol. In other words this man of God has the same mentallty that every racist in this country has, about the deficit, approaching the enemy with force, which should have been done, in the past, somehow it's his job because they say so. In other words here is an uppity n---ers who won't follow instructions. Well, trust me, this country's reward is on its way. And for all of the ass----- looking to blame blacks people for that keep that thought because that's part of this country's dimise.In your analysis of New Orleans school systems I would be remiss if I did not advise of the atrocious way they treated teachers after katrina with their healthcare. They litterally left them out in the cold to perish. They did not then, and neither now give a care. Especially those who had special need. Rasfanta, keep the faith, as the scripture tells us, fret not evil doers, for the time is near. be inform that all of these people are very close to their demise and this country is going to hell in a hand basket.
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