Public School Kid's Outperform Charter School Kids - Again!

[Nbadan]

WASHINGTON - Fourth graders in traditional public schools are doing better in both reading and math than students in charter schools, the government says in a report fueling fresh debate over school choice.

Tuesday's report said fourth graders in regular public schools scored an average of 5.2 points better in reading than students in charter schools on the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress test. Students in traditional schools scored an average of 5.8 points better in math.

Charter school opponents said the findings show that the schools are a failing experiment that drains resources from traditional public schools. Charter school supporters called the report flawed and outdated and said charters improve public education by creating competition.

The Bush administration supports charter schools.

Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060822/ap_on_go_ot/charter_schools)

When you consider the fact that Charter Schools can pick and choose who attends their school and public schools accept everyone, it makes the charter school results look even worse.

[Oh, Gee!!]

not surprising since charter schools cannot afford to attract quality teachers.

[Yonivore]

Here's a couple of excerpts you left out -- kind of helps balance things a bit.


The head of the government agency that produced the report cautioned against reading too much into it.

"This was a pilot study and not meant to be definitive," said Mark Schneider, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which did the report for the Department of Education.

"What does this report say to a parent? Not much, frankly," Schneider said. Still, he said the report provides solid data for researchers to do more studies.
Pilot, for those of you who were educated in public schools, means limited. I wouldn't doubt that the schools represented in the pilot study were cherry-, um, hand-picked because of the results that would be realized.


Nelson Smith, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said the report was flawed because it did not measure academic progress over time. He said many students enter charter schools after struggling in traditional schools, only to improve their test scores over time.

He also noted that many charter schools in the study had been operating only a short time.

"It takes charters a year or two to get their sea legs, and then their performance goes up," Smith said.

The Center for Education Reform, which supports charter schools, issued a list of studies showing that charter school students in several states outperform students in traditional public schools.
Just adding balance to your inference Nbadan.

[Mr. Peabody]

Pilot, for those of you who were educated in public schools, means limited.

Really, I always thought pilot studies were the initial studies or trial studies, I didn't think they were necessarily limited.

[Mr. Peabody]

not surprising since charter schools cannot afford to attract quality teachers.

Do you need the same qualifications to teach in a charter school as you do in a public school?

[Marklar MM]

Do you need the same qualifications to teach in a charter school as you do in a public school?

I don't think they have the same contracts that public school teachers get. Basically, your job depends on the students. Don't quote me as I have no idea on how the system works.

[jochhejaam]

Here's a couple of excerpts you left out -- kind of helps balance things a bit.

Pilot, for those of you who were educated in public schools, means limited. I wouldn't doubt that the schools represented in the pilot study were cherry-, um, hand-picked because of the results that would be realized.

Just adding balance to your inference Nbadan.


Nelson Smith, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said the report was flawed because it did not measure academic progress over time. He said many students enter charter schools after struggling in traditional schools, only to improve their test scores over time.

He also noted that many charter schools in the study had been operating only a short time.

"It takes charters a year or two to get their sea legs, and then their performance goes up," Smith said

Nelson Smith makes a good point. A friend of mine, who has taught for 28 years in the Public Schools, told me that the Charter Schools got all of the kids that the Public Schools didn't want (inferring kids that were struggling academically and/or with discipline problems). She said as a result of this, teaching at the Public Schools was much easier.

My wife is teaching for the 2nd year in a Charter School that is in it's 3rd year of existence. After the 1st year the School was rated as being on "Academic Watch" which is okay. After this past year the School was graded higher and is now rated as one of "Continous Improvement". These grading titles are base strictly on test scores.

The kids that make up the student body at the Charter Schools start off testing out at a lower grade level than their counterparts in the Public Schools. The grading should be based on the progress made starting with the students initial grading upon enrolling into the Charter Schools, and their progress measured against that year after year.

Teachers Unions are a formiddable force and have pitted themselves against the Charter Schools which do not allow Union Schools. They're more interested in keeping Union enrollment high than the are in seeing that our children get a quality education.

Also, the qualifications are the same for Teachers regardless of whether they teach in Public or Charter Schools.