Monday, November 29, 2010

Grading States on Charter Schools: Lots of Low Grades, Report Says - State EdWatch - Education Week

Grading States on Charter Schools: Lots of Low Grades, Report Says - State EdWatch - Education Week

Grading States on Charter Schools: Lots of Low Grades, Report Says

Just 11 states, plus the District of Columbia, earned an "A" or "B" grade on whether their laws support charter schools, according to the rankings put forward by an advocacy group.

Relatively few of the winners in the Race to the Top competition were deemed to be in the upper tier, according to grades included in the report by the Center for Education Reform, which supports charter schools and school choice.

Of the round one and round two Race to the Top awardees, only the District of Columbia earned an A. And just New York and Florida received Bs. Of course, support for charter schools was just one of the categories through which states could earn Race to the Top points. The center graded states' charter school laws and practices in four categories: whether they allow and encourage multiple authorizers of those schools; the number of schools