Charter Schools Not Interested in School Turnarounds
A recent EdWeek blog seems to confirm the continued lack of charter school presence in the school turnaround space. Basically, KIPP has said thanks, but no thanks to the charter schools as turnaround option. This should not come as a surprise. In a recent Ed Sector report on school restructuring under NCLB, only 0.3% of schools chose the charter conversion option for school turnaround. And, when Los Angeles Unified put a group of 12 of its lowest performing schools up forauction earlier this year in its School Choice Initiative, only one charter school organization submitted a bid, and that bid did not win. This is in a district with one of the most healthy charter school communities.
Should we be concerned about the lack of charter school interest in the turnaround business? Yes and No. It would be great if the charter sector were at least experimenting with this more, so that there was a broader opportunity for innovation in this space. We have a lot to learn about the turnaround business, and having some of the CMO taking on this challenge would provide an opportunity for learning. At, the same time, the highly