KARE: Why public charter schools are important

Wayne Lewis and Hal Heiner of Kentuckians Advocating Reform in Education (KARE) described their vision for charter schools in Kentucky this week, but with regrettable hypernbole.

This from Wayne Lewis and Hal Heiner in C-J:

For Kentucky, we want a charter school law that has a high threshold; meaning applicants wanting to open charter schools will have to meet a rigorous standard before being granted a charter. We also want the law written so that charter schools that fail to meet their agreed upon expectations will be shut down with minimal difficulty.

Good. Having a strong law is crucial. But then...

In addition to this outcomes-based accountability that comes with charter schools, any parent that is unhappy with the charter school that their child attends simply takes the child out of the charter school and sends him/her to another school.

Another school? It might have been more honest to suggest that such students would be returned to the traditional public school, which is an important consideration since it relates to the issue of charters "creaming" students from the traditional public schools. Then there's this...

Charter schools provide additional school options for parents. We believe firmly that every parent should have public school options when deciding on a school for his/her child. No parent should be forced to continue to send his or her child to a school that cannot or does not serve that child’s needs. But unfortunately, tens of thousands of parents in Kentucky are forced to do just that. As we work to improve our traditional public school systems in Kentucky, we must also work to increase the availability of public school options for parents, both inside and outside of our traditional public school systems.

I agree with the general notion, but "tens of thousands of parents in Kentucky" !? I think KARE should be required to tell us which parents these are. All of the parents in which schools? This exaggerated number is inflammatory and untrue. While I agree that there is a good argument for allowing charters is some limited situations such hyperbole only serves to undermine the credibility of the writers.

All parents deserve quality school options; regardless of their ZIP code, education level, income, or social capital.

Not only true, but if we substitute the word "education" for "school options" it is guaranteed by the Kentucky constitution.

Quality public charter schools can be instrumental in giving parents across Kentucky access to quality public school options.

Not hardly, but it could be one vehicle, which if judiciously applied in limited cases of long-standing failure, that can be justified. The problem is that the way one organized for instruction is never the main ingredient in school success.

Prich Pushes Back on False Charter Claims

Kentucky students are not behind 
Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, or the nation

This from Prichard:  

The information presented by KARE in commercials here and here and website text here invites serious misunderstandings. No matter your position on charter schools, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and the nation are not doing better than Kentucky on the student performance measures KARE presents.

Fourth-Grade Reading
KARE’s commercials cite 2011 NAEP results showing:

• 65% of Kentucky students reading below the proficient level. 

That figure is correct, but Kentucky is not scoring behind the states with charter schools listed in the KARE commercial. Instead, the same assessment shows:

•  67% of Indiana students reading below the proficient level.
• 66% of Ohio students reading below the proficient level.
• 74% of Tennessee students reading below the proficient level. 
• 68% of students nationwide reading below the proficient level.

Fourth grade reading results do not show Kentucky scoring behind the states listed in the KARE commercial...

Union Bashing in Favor of an Improbable Solution

This from WFPL:

While Rallying for Charter Schools,

Supporters Ask Unions to Stand Aside

Advocates for charter schools in Kentucky took their cause to Frankfort today.

A handful of organizations support charter schools. One of the most vocal has been the Black Alliance for Educational Opportunities or BAEO. Its national president, Kenneth Campbell, helped lead the rally for charter schools at the Capitol. And he told the crowd Kentucky’s education system doesn’t serve all students equally.

“You know children and families in Kentucky are in crisis, as they are in a lot of places across this country,” Campbell said. “And the one tool we have for turning this whole thing around is education. And it doesn’t work for too many of our children. So what we want is for the political leaders of Kentucky to take a stand on behalf of children.

Many lawmakers were on hand for the rally, which came after a march around the Capitol. Former Louisville mayoral candidate Hal Heiner—who chairs a group running ads in support of charter schools—spoke to a crowded Rotunda audience. So did state Rep. Brad Montell, who has repeatedly filed legislation to legalize charter schools.

Supporters of the legislation are telling opponents—largely teachers’ unions—to get out the way.

“Again I think the only thing that holds it up are people who are supporting institutions more than children and families,” said Campbell. “People who are supporting adult issues and their organized interest versus the interests of children. At the end of the day nobody can look at our performance and say that what we have right now is working for all kids. And if it’s not then we need to talk about being bold and taking action.”

House Speaker Greg Stumbo has signaled an openness to charter school legislation this session. And House Education Chairman Carl Rollins says he may allow a bill to be voted on in his committee.

But opponents of charter schools say education improvement isn’t a certainty with charters. They point to mismanagement of charter schools in other states, lackluster improvement and the draining of funds from other public schools as reasons not to support charters.

C-J Editorial: Charter school mirage

This from the Courier-Journal:

Like an unwelcome relative at family gatherings, the push for charter schools has returned to Kentucky.

Politically, it needs to be taken seriously. Charter schools have had support in the past in the state Senate, and Senate President David Williams supported them during his unsuccessful Republican campaign for governor last year. Previous bids to authorize charter schools have died in the House, but there are some high-stakes issues confronting the General Assembly — expanded gambling, tax reform, a bid to create a state university in Pikeville, painful budget cuts — that could prompt game-changing bargains. Gov. Steve Beshear, who has seemed open to charter schools, can’t be counted on as a last line of defense.

But charter schools should not be approached as a political matter — or even as a financial one. (Some education officials and advocates argue that Kentucky must create charter schools in order to win Race to the Top federal dollars, but that actually is not a requirement.)

Charter schools are offered as an educational remedy. They are chartered by states, receive public money (and often funds from private foundations) and are technically public schools that cannot charge tuition and must offer open enrollment on a space available basis. But they are largely organized outside the daily operational control of state and local officials. In return, they agree to be held accountable for meeting results specified in the charter.

That has sounded good to some parents in other states, but the single most important consideration is that charter schools overall do not do as well as traditional public schools — even though charter schools generally can boot out children who don’t perform well.

A national assessment of charter schools in 2009 by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University found that only 17 percent of charter schools reported academic gains that were notably superior to those of traditional public schools, 37 percent showed gains that were worse, and 46 percent of charter schools showed no significant difference.

Moreover, they are simply not needed in Kentucky. Like charter schools, site-based management councils, under the KERA education reform, can make decisions for each school that supersede a school board’s authority. For all the hand-wringing, public schools in Jefferson County and statewide have been making significant progress in national rankings without charter schools.

And, at a time of cutbacks, this is no time to divert money from public schools.

Nationally, the charter school movement often has an anti-union ideological component. But in Kentucky, that would be creating a clash with unionized teachers that doesn’t exist now. Jefferson County teachers, to take one example, have agreed to modify significant traditional seniority-based processes on teacher assignments, particularly at persistently low-achieving schools.

Everyone wants to make Kentucky’s schools better. Charter schools are the wrong way to do it.

Review Finds Studies of Charter Schools Flawed, Problematic

This from State EdWatch:

Most studies of charter schools use unsophisticated methods and are flawed in ways that prevent researchers from accurately gauging those institutions' impact on student achievement, a new review concludes.

And while researchers have options for collecting more accurate information about charter school performance, they also face obstacles along the way—some of them related to the unwillingness among states and schools to provide crucial data, the analysis finds.

A meta-analysis of charter school studies revealed that about 75 percent of them do not meet rigorous research standards because they don't account for the differences in academic background and academic histories of students attending charters, when comparing them with those attending traditional public schools, according to the review, published in the renowned journal Science. Those studies typically fail to "disentangle school quality from the preexisting achievement level," or student self-selection of schools, the article says.

The article was written by Julian R. Betts, a professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego, and Richard C. Atkinson, a former president of the University of California system who also once served as director of the National Science Foundation.

High-quality research on charters is nonetheless beginning to emerge, they say. Much of it is coming from charters that have so many applicants that they must use lotteries for admission. Because getting in or not getting in is based on chance, the students who fail to secure a spot represent a sound "control" group necessary for a study, Betts and Atkinson say.

The relatively small number of lottery-based studies of charter schools have generally shown that they either outperform or perform at the same level as traditional public schools, according to the authors. But those studies cover only a small fraction—about 2 percent—of charter schools nationally.

Of course, many education advocates and scholars have long been frustrated by the paucity of rigorous research across the spectrum of school policy—not just with charters. (See my colleague Debbie Viadero's exceptional reporting on this.) The shortage of research is sometimes attributed to the difficulty of arranging high-quality, sustained studies of student populations in school settings...

Pro Charter Group meets with C-J Editors

UK Prof Wayne Lewis tells C-J Editors 
that poor kids are "sentenced" to bad schools

This from The Courier-Journal:

Former Louisville mayoral candidate Hal Heiner is leading a campaign to allow charter schools to be established in Kentucky.

Heiner has formed a nonprofit organization, Kentuckians Advocating Reform in Education, to push the General Assembly to allow for charter schools. Among its efforts is a $120,000 ad campaign on television and radio.

The former Metro Council member said his advocacy was born of concern about the Jefferson County Public School system’s dropout rate, as well as other education issues frequently raised when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2010.

Charter schools take different forms in each state, but they typically are operated with public funds by groups independent of local school systems. They do not have to abide by the same regulations as public schools, allowing for more hours in the school day, more class days and greater flexibility in instruction...

A bill authorizing charter schools passed the state Senate last year, but the House has not taken up such proposals. Rep. Carl Rollins, a Midway Democrat and chairman of the House Education Committee, said that, while he opposes charter schools, he’s considering bringing a bill sponsored by Rep. Brad Montell, R-Shelbyville, to the committee this session.

“I think it dilutes our focus,” Rollins said of charter schools. “I know we need to improve a lot of our schools, but at the same time I don’t think competition — starting new schools from scratch to compete with our public schools — is the way to solve the problem.”

Rollins said he’s considering bringing the bill up because of the longstanding support for charter schools among legislative Republicans and the Obama administration, and he thinks it’s worth debating.

“It doesn’t hurt to have a discussion and talk about it,” he said...

Heiner said he prefers only nonprofit organizations being granted charters and for the schools to be targeted to high-poverty communities. Parents would have to apply for their children to attend the schools, and a lottery would determine who gets in if applications exceed available spots, he said.

Religious groups would not be eligible to apply for charters, Burgan said...

Heiner said he is KARE’s largest contributor, and the other members are “Kentucky individuals.” Asked for a list of donors, Heiner said he’d consult with them to see if they want their names to be made public...

House Education Chairman Could Allow Charter School Vote

This from WFPL:

A vote on legislation that would allow charter schools may finally have it’s day in the Kentucky state House education committee.

House Education Chairman Carl Rollins says he’s considering allowing a charter school bill to receive a hearing and a vote in his committee this session. That’s been unheard of since Rollins assumed the chair of that committee.

Rollins makes no guarantee he’ll bring up a charter school bill, but says if there’s legislation out there he can deal with, a vote could happen.

“It would depend on what the bill is,” Rollins says. “I think the innovation districts bill would pass, I’m not sure if, and I think it passed last year and it’s the same bill this year. Charter schools have never really been voted on or brought up in committee, we have discussed them in the interim committee meetings but we’ve not voted on them.”

The “districts of innovation” bill is Rollins’s own take on charter schools. Instead of creating new public charters schools, it would allow current school districts, up to five a year, to break free of some state regulations to operate outside the box, more like charters. Rollins says the bill is “charter school-like.”

Charter school advocates aren’t in favor of Rollins approach, saying it’s more restrictive than actual charter schools. One group has made a push, through TV ads, to get the public on its side when it comes to advocating for charter schools. And House Speaker Greg Stumbo has said he’s willing to discuss the issue.

Rollins says the TV ads haven’t inspired his possible change of heart on charter school legislation.

One House lawmaker currently has a charter school bill up for discussion, Republican state Rep. Brad Montell of Shelbyville. And while Rollins didn’t specifically commit to hearing Montell’s bill, he did say if he allows a discussion of a charter schools bill, it will get a vote as well.

“If I call the bill I’ll let a vote,” Rollins said. “I don’t think I’ve ever called a bill, since I’ve been chairman, just for discussion that didn’t eventually get a vote.”

Opponents of charter schools say they don’t improve education significantly and they take resources from other public schools.

Rare Bipartisan Support Secures Charter Bill Passage

This from Education Week:

The U.S. House of Representatives took what has become a rare step last week: It passed an education bill with broad bipartisan support. The Sept. 13 bill involving charter schools passed by an overwhelming vote of 365 to 54—but there was still a lot of drama behind the scenes.

The measure is one of a number of small, targeted bills the House will consider in reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act. It would allow states to tap federal funds to replicate charter school models that have a track record of success. Right now, the federal charter school program is financed at $255 million.

Charter Schools: Beneficial Or Detrimental To Rural Areas?

This from Rural Education:

It isn't easy to start a rural charter school, but it's an option some communities are embracing as a means of preserving sites that otherwise might be shuttered.

Indiana, for example, has one rural charter school—Rural Community Academy in Sullivan, Ind.—but it soon will be home to a second, Canaan Community Academy in Canaan, Ind.

Residents of this 99-person town lost their local school after the district decided to close it because of low enrollment. Later, they discovered a story by StateImpact, a collaboration of WFIU, Indiana Public Broadcasting stations and NPR, in which its reporters attempted to start a fake charter school, SimSchool, to show what that process involves.

From the story, Canaan residents learned about the Rural Community Academy, and they decided to turn their now-shuttered community school into a charter. Canaan Community Academy will open in August in the same building with donated furniture, computers and books, according to StateImpact.

Still, charter schools can be seen as a negative in rural communities when they become competitors instead of replacement options. When charter schools are launched alongside traditional schools, they often draw from the same student population, which decreases enrollment, and consequently the per pupil funding, of traditional schools.

The bottom line? "The charter school experiment appears dual-edged. For rural areas, the focus on school improvement might unify citizens. But poor economic conditions and conflicts might threaten these positive efforts," according to an ERIC Digest report on rural charter schools.

Nationally, the number of charter schools in rural areas is growing, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The number has increased from 207, or 13 percent, of all charter schools in 2000 to 652, or 15 percent, in 2008, according to statistics cited by the National Charter School Resource Center. But those schools are still scarce; those living in rural Indiana, for example, would have to travel more than 40 miles in many cases to get to the nearest charter school, according to StateImpact.

As Kentucky Legislative Session Opens, Groups Start Stronger Push for Charter Schoolss

This from WFPL:

The debate over charter schools is one Kentucky educators and legislators have heard and argued over for the last several years.

But supporters of the education reform feel one party left out of those discussions is ready to be brought into the fold. A newly formed group called Kentuckians Advocating Reforms in Education (KARE) is launching TV ad buys across the commonwealth today to educate the general public about charter schools. KARE has spent $8,950 to air the ad on WLKY in Louisville. Former Metro Councilman and Republican mayoral candidate Hal Heiner is the group’s chairman.



Ads are usually reserved for political campaigns, not legislative issues, but KARE and other organizations like the Kentucky Charter School Project are targeting 2012 as the year charter schools should be passed into law in Kentucky.

KARE’s TV ad is running in every media market in the state except Northern Kentucky.

Kentucky is among nine states that have not passed any charter school legislation. Kentucky’s absence of charter schools is one thing many supporters of the reform say has kept the state from winning multiple Race to the Top federal education grants.

A bill to add charter schools has been filed by state Rep. Brad Montell, a Shelbyville Republican, for several years. And supporters in the state Senate have filed and passed bills in that chamber as well, but all the measures have died in the House.

Policy Brief: The Evidence on Charter Schools and Test Scores

This from the Albert Shanker Institute:

Charter schools are among the most controversial issues in education today, with much of the debate focused on whether they produce better testing results than comparable regular public schools. Too often, these discussions either rely on a tiny handful of studies, or on raw, cross-sectional testing results, which are not valid measures of school effects.

This policy brief provides an accessible review of the research on charter schools’ testing effects, how their varying impacts might be explained and what this evidence suggests about the ongoing proliferation of these schools.

The public debate about the success and expansion of charter schools often seems to gravitate toward a tiny handful of empirical studies, when there is, in fact, a relatively well-developed literature focused on whether these schools generate larger testing gains among their students relative to their counterparts in comparable regular public schools. This brief reviews this body of evidence, with a focus on high-quality state- and district-level analyses that address, directly or indirectly, three questions:

• Do charter schools produce larger testing gains overall?
• What policies and practices seem to be associated with better performance?
• Can charter schools expand successfully within the same location?

The available research suggests that charter schools’ effects on test score gains vary by location, school/student characteristics and other factors. When there are differences, they tend to be modest. There is tentative evidence suggesting that high-performing charter schools share certain key features, especially private donations, large expansions of school time, tutoring programs and strong discipline policies. Finally, while there may be a role for state/local policies in ensuring quality as charters proliferate, scaling up proven approaches is constrained by the lack of adequate funding, and the few places where charter sectors as a whole have been shown to get very strong results seem to be those in which their presence is more limited. Overall, after more than 20 years of proliferation, charter schools face the same challenges as regular public schools in boosting student achievement, and future research should continue to focus on identifying the policies, practices and other characteristics that help explain the wide variation in their results.