School Choice Week: Are We Leaving Children Behind by Design?
Part 1 of 2
Advocates of public funding for private, parochial and charter schools have declared this School Choice Week, and that means we will be getting a heavy dose of advertising and advocacy promoting market-based reforms of our education system. Choice and competition between schools will spur innovation, we are told. Students will find their ways to the school that is just right for them.
But the marketplace and the drive for profits are proving to be very poor at delivering equitable outcomes for many of our students. Why is this? Perhaps the very design of these school choice systems allows - even promotes - the systematic abandonment of students most affected by poverty and lacking parental support.
The marketplace that has been created in education is far from a level playing field. It is systematically flawed in ways that hamper public schools and provide advantages to many charter and private schools. Some charter schools screen out students who lack parental support or are otherwise not "a good fit." Research has
National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) Group: 1 in 5 charter schools not doing well enough to stay open
A group that oversees more than half of the nation's 5,600 charter schools said
as many as one in five U.S. charter schools should be shut down because of
poor academic performance.
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2019784379_charterschools29.html
as many as one in five U.S. charter schools should be shut down because of
poor academic performance.
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2019784379_charterschools29.html
Advocates of public funding for private, parochial and charter schools have declared this School Choice Week, and that means we will be getting a heavy dose of advertising and advocacy promoting market-based reforms of our education system. Choice and competition between schools will spur innovation, we are told. Students will find their ways to the school that is just right for them.
But the marketplace and the drive for profits are proving to be very poor at delivering equitable outcomes for many of our students. Why is this? Perhaps the very design of these school choice systems allows - even promotes - the systematic abandonment of students most affected by poverty and lacking parental support.
The marketplace that has been created in education is far from a level playing field. It is systematically flawed in ways that hamper public schools and provide advantages to many charter and private schools. Some charter schools screen out students who lack parental support or are otherwise not "a good fit." Research has