The New(?) Strategy of Charter Schools in the Wild West “Free-Market” System in Texas
In Austin, the school district has decided that it does not know how to educate students in some particular feeder patterns in the area of the town serving poor and minority students. The schools on the East Side, as it is known in Austin, have long been ignored, underfunded, or changed on a yearly basis since the early 1990s. Some schools on the East Side do quite well. They tend to have outstanding principals who work to improve the capacity of teachers, involve parents, keep good teachers, and counsel ineffective teachers out of the schools.
Rather than attempt to replicate what works in the existing neighborhood schools, Dr. Meria Carstarphen (the superintendent) has decided to not do the hard work of improving the schools with AISD staff, but to hire a
