A New Lawsuit Challenges The Legality Of 'No Excuse' Charter Schools
A majority of children attending the nation’s public schools now come from low-income families, according to a study released a year ago by The Southern Education Foundation. And there are more homeless students in American schools than ever before.
We’ve long recognized the impact of poverty on the future wellbeing of children. Students who come to school hungry have more difficulties focusing on schoolwork. Students who grow up without books in the home, or without computers or Internet access at home are at a severe disadvantage in school. Students who don’t have stable home lives or lack clothing or medical care are more apt to have behavioral problems.
What are schools to do? This question is urgent at a time when budget cuts have decimated student health services traditionally provided by social workers, counselors, nurses, and other support staff.
Recently, a popular answer to that question, at least in policy and media circles, has been to promote the idea that the impact of childhood poverty and trauma is an "excuse" for academic problems. Teachers who practice in “no excuses” schools are encouraged not to accommodate children's problems that are created by adversity, but to lay down strict rules and rigid expectations that challenge children to overcome—even ignore—their personal backgrounds and circumstances.
Educators who follow a progressive "child-centered" model for teaching are repulsed by the
- See more at: http://progressive.org/pss/new-lawsuit-challenges-legality-no-excuse-charter-schools#sthash.5PhpgWOM.dpuf
