Resolution: Charter School? -Try Two

Resolution: Charter School?

MANHATTAN, NY – Two public schools, teaching the same grades, no more than four hundred yards away, have absolutely nothing to do with each other. The schools look similar: both with security guards, gated playgrounds, uniforms and about twenty-three students per classroom. Then what keeps them so isolated? Ross Global Academy is a charter school and P.S. 19 is not.

Lately there have been thoughts circulating through education spheres wondering if charter schools will be the solution to our current issues in elementary education. Karen DeMoss, an associate professor of Educational Studies at Eugene Lang for the New School University, has mixed feelings about charter schools and believes there is no way you can discuss charter schools as a whole, because each one is so unique. “They really vary, there are lots of different ways to think about thinking about charter schools,” Dr. DeMoss Said.

A social worker, Emily George, with a master’s degree from NYU and a master’s degree from Hunter, who has worked in public schools in Manhattan since she graduated and is now working at The Ross Global Academy Charter School in the East Village, is an advocate of charters schools. She says that they are a good addition to the public school system, since some children prosper in smaller learning environments and need more one-on-one attention, but agrees that they are not the answer. “I think that it is important that children have the choice,” Ms. George commented.

Charter Schools abide by a self-made curriculum, for which a unique set of principles is the grounds for their charter. Many Charter Schools incorporate a specific theme to their curriculum, such as performing arts based learning or technical science. Each charter school must meet the criteria of their charter each year, as well as the New York State standardized test and grade determined guidelines. Ms. George notices that often upholding both the charter and the state education requirements is demanding; although, despite the challenges, she finds for some students this themed approach is very beneficial. “There is a lot more accountability for charter schools, for faculty and students,” Ms. George said, “charter schools do work for some kids, but it is about finding the right fit.”

Charter schools began because people wanted another option within public education. Public schools must meet the needs of such a large variety of students and teachers, that often more general academic instruction is provided. Dr. DeMoss explained that historically charter schools were related to privileged people, and some evidence shows that they did practicing creaming – education jargon, for the process of selecting only the most qualified students and families. However, this is no longer permitted, and by law a charter school cannot refuse any student from attending any charter school.

There is no application for charter schools, only a lottery process; parents simply submit their child’s name and keep their fingers crossed. Around the corner from The Ross Global Academy, Jacqueline Flanagan, principle of Public School 19, had no comment about charter schools. She explained that the charter school down the street is irrelevant to her, and that due to the funding charter schools receive, she hardly views charter schools as a part of the public school system. “I mean, they [charter schools] get private funding, so I guess I would have an after school program if I had private funding,” Mrs. Flanagan said.

Private funding is more prominent in charter schools for a variety of reasons; albeit primarily, it is because the investors have more say in where their money is going or the founders have an expressed interest on an ideological basis. Mrs. Flanagan believes that funding could help solve some of her school’s problems, but it still would not fix the crucial piece of how much information the children are retaining. This matter extends far deeper than donations and dollars. “It is about having the right school community, having teachers that care about kids, being really very smart about how to strategically educate children and have them get to that next level,” Mrs. Flanagan said.

There are many factors that must come together for a child to academically succeed, it has shown time and time again that there is not one aspect that can make up for any other missing piece. Frequently in charter schools the parents are asked to sign a parent contract, enforcing the notion that parents are a part of the child’s learning process and a supportive home life is crucial to a student’s success. Mrs. Flanagan wishes she could implement this sort of program at her public school. “That link has to be there: parent teacher, student,” she said, “I wish there was a special funded program from the government that supported parents and did workshops on parent skills and how to support your child in school.”

After-school instruction for parents is a precarious notion, which appeals to teachers and administration more so than parents. The implementation of this idea also assumes that parents are able to offer such a time commitment. Dr. DeMoss explained that as an educator she is hesitant to tell parents how to parent their children, and there is no evidence that supports parental involvement is entirely effective. “I have profound empathy for families that are struggling, I worry a little bit about thinking that everybody can, quote on quote, be involved,” Dr. DeMoss said, “I completely agree with parent support, that everyone can tell their child school is important; but I do not know what parent involvement looks like.”

Rejecting the idea that one resolution will fix it all, Dr. DeMoss remained cautious of conversations that praise charter schools as the way to reform public education. To reinforce her doubts, she referenced one of the most comprehensive education assessment studies done in the past decade. This large scale federal study, conducted by The Institute of Education Studies, came out this past summer and using random control trials, it surveyed the success rates of students that attended charter schools and those who were not admitted into charter schools. “There are historic reasons to have some general distrust about all of them being good,” Dr. DeMoss said, “only twenty percent do better than the public school system and on average they do not do better than the public school system.”

There is an African proverb that reads: “It takes a village to raise a child,” and arguably, with a bit of modernizing, it takes an entire city to educate one too. There is not an isolated solution to fix the system, or one school that is changing them all, so why does such a sharp distinction between charter school and not seem to be an acceptable call?