On Charter Schools and Integration: A Case Study
Blackstone Valley Prep phys-ed teacher Jay Murray is also trained in phonics; here he conducts a pirate-themed reading lesson, rewarding correct answers by putting "gold coins" in each child's treasure chest.
Yesterday Bob Herbert published a very good column about why racial and socioeconomic integration remain important education reform goals, even though saying so much has become politically taboo.
Educators know that it is very difficult to get consistently good results in schools characterized by high concentrations of poverty. The best teachers tend to avoid such schools. Expectations regarding student achievement are frequently much lower, and there are lower levels of parental involvement. These, of course, are the very schools in which so many black and Hispanic children are enrolled.
One reason we don't have a real political conversation about how to counteract school segregation is because of the rise, since the mid-1990s, of the charter school movement. Charter networks such as KIPP and Achievement First were founded in inner city neighborhoods by educators who wanted to