REPORT CARD: Dubious Standards for Charter Schools
by Liza FeatherstoneCommunity Roots Charter School (CRCS) is across the street from the housing projects in Fort Greene,and the bathrooms and the lunchroom look plenty run-down. But don’t be fooled: the kids are all right.
Kindergarteners are given “research notebooks” and taught how to interview people. One morning in late January, in one first-grade classroom, everyone was quietly reading a book, many of the kids comfortably sprawled on the floor. Fourth-graders were working in pairs, “editing” each other’s writing. Children here have music, art, and science twice a week.
Because of superb, well-rounded schools like CRCS, many Brooklyn parents respond with tail-wagging eagerness to any noise that includes the following buzzwords: “school choice,” “new schools,” and “charter schools.” But the education on tap at CRCS has nothing to do with the Department
