On average, the funding gap between charter schools and traditional schools is 22 percent, or $1,800 per pupil. The average charter school ends up with a total funding shortfall of nearly half a million dollars.
Source: Charter School Funding: Inequity’s Next Frontier
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Note: Please be aware that online publishers often change URLs or no longer provide access to articles after 7 days. If any of the below links no longer work, access the publishing newspaper and search the archives for the keywords in the subject matter. Good luck.
New York Times Profiles Charter Models
In a lengthy piece on "What it Takes to Make a Student," a New York Times Magazine editor finds that charter schools have "most aggressively" taken on the mission to deliver "consistently high results with a population that generally achieves consistently low results." He finds that the schools that are achieving the most impressive results with poor and minority students tend to follow three practices: (1) they require many more hours of class time than a typical public school; (2) treat classroom instruction and lesson planning as much as a science as an art; and (3) make a conscious effort to guide the behavior and values of their students. The author says "the schools are, in the end, a counterintuitive combination of touchy-feely idealism and intense discipline." He discusses several replicable charter models, including KIPP and Achievement First.
Source: New York Times (free registration required), (12/02/2006)
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Eli Broad Donates More than $10 Million to Green Dot Charter Organization
Philanthropist Eli Broad has donated $10.5 million to Green Dot Public Schools, a leading charter school organization. The funding will help the organization reach its goal of opening 21 new high school campuses and enroll about one of every 10 high school students currently in L.A. Unified by 2010. Green Dot currently operates 10 high schools, eight of which are in LA district boundaries in poor neighborhoods near low-performing district campuses. The model has created promising results. Nearly 80 percent of students who enter Green Dot schools as ninth-graders go on to graduate in four years and three of every four graduates go on to four-year colleges. District leaders "will clearly have to take notice of Green Dot's successes," Broad said in an interview.
Source: LA Times (free registration required), (12/01/2006)
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Charter Enrollment Increases in North Carolina
Despite having reached the limit on the number of charter schools allowed under state law, North Carolina's public charter school enrollment continues to rise. Statewide enrollment in the state's charters has risen from 15,290 in the first month of school in 2001 to 28,883 in the first month of this school year. "I just believe parents are happy with what is happening in those schools. Some are maintaining; we may have a few that are going down a little bit," said Jack Moyer, the state director of charter schools. Moyer said he hopes that the cap is lifted, but he does not think it will happen in the near future. "Legislators are showing more interest in that, but I don't think it's ready. I think we have to continue to raise the level, raise the bar in schools across the state so people can see what's happening, and that takes a while," he said.
Source: Winston-Salem Journal, (11/30/2006)
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Foundation Vows to Support Bringing More KIPP Schools to LA
Eli Broad, who announced a $10.5 million donation to Green Dot Public Schools last week, also pledged to do "whatever it takes" to bring more KIPP schools to Los Angeles. KIPP, an acronym for Knowledge is Power Program, currently has two schools in the LA and 52 around the country. Broad, who first saw KIPP in the South Bronx years ago, said the difference between the students there and at neighboring schools was "night and day." "I think KIPP is the gold standard if not the platinum standard based upon their results," Broad said. "I'd love for them to have a fair market share of the middle schools here in Los Angeles." KIPP spokesman Steve Mancini said they were in discussions with the Broad Foundation regarding bringing more schools to Los Angeles.
Source: Mercury News (free registration required), (11/30/2006)
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Charter Schools Closing Achievement Gap for Hispanic Students
New research from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools shows signs of promise that chartering is helping to increase the performance of Hispanic students. The document points to four studies which find that the Hispanic achievement gap is closing. A 2006 study by the Massachusetts Department of Education shows that Hispanic students in charters are overtaking peers in non-charters on reading and math tests. A 2004 study in Florida found Hispanic charter students start out farther behind, but exceed learning gains of non-charter students in reading. Charters in highly Hispanic areas hold a "proficiency advantage" over non-charter students on 4th grade reading and math tests, according to a 2005 national comparison. And, the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found Hispanic 4th graders in charter schools outpacing non-charter students in reading.
Source: US Newswire, (11/28/2006)
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Indianapolis Mayor to Continue Charter Expansion Despite District Pressure
Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson has agreed to give consideration to how new schools would compete with the Indianapolis district (IPS), but vows to continue expanding his charter school program. He recently met with IPS Superintendent Eugene White who has requested a moratorium on charter school growth. White told the mayor he is concerned that charter schools siphon away hundreds of students from IPS schools each year and that he might have to close some district schools. "We do not plan on changing the very rigorous, thorough process that we have in place," Justin Ohlemiller, the Mayor's spokesman said. "We appreciate Dr. White's insight into that, and we're going to be sensitive to those concerns." Currently, there are 36 charters statewide, 16 of them sponsored by Peterson in Indianapolis.
Source: Indianapolis Star, (11/27/2006)
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New Charter School Research Report to Be Released
On December 6, the National Charter School Research Project at the University of Washington will host a luncheon release of a new report, "Hopes, Fears, and Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools in 2006." The report will examine current issues facing the charter school movement. Presentations will include: (1) The Future of Charter Schools and Teachers Unions by Andrew Rotherham, Education Sector; (2) How Low-Income Parents Choose Charter Schools by Paul Teske, University of Colorado; and (3) Improving Authorizing and Oversight by Paul Hill, Center on Reinventing Public, and Bruno Manno, Annie E. Casey Foundation. The event will be held at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. If interested, contact Maggie Bardacke at bardacke@u.washington.edu.
Source: National Charter School Research Project, (11/24/2006)
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Charters in Los Angeles Plea for Space
Five Los Angeles district campuses lay vacant, while some charters fight for space or have to make-do in difficult facilities. For example, high-performing Ivy Academia has hundreds of students and parents clamoring for a high school and is eager to use one of the LAUSD spaces. Gregory McNair, the district's administrator for charter schools, says that "the reality is that facilities aren't available in all areas to provide to charter schools." The demand for the independent campuses is simply growing so quickly, he said, it is outstripping available space. Facilities and access to facilities is the biggest barrier to the growth of charter schools, said Caprice Young of the California Charter Schools Association. Young hopes the new LAUSD Superintendent can help. "They're not complying with the law to provide facilities for charter school students and we are hopeful the new superintendent will understand his responsibility under the law."
Source: Los Angeles Daily News, (11/23/2006)
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Arizona's Basis Charter Schools Offer Rigorous Curriculum
Earlier this year, Newsweek magazine named Basis School Inc.'s high school in Tucson the third-best in the country. And recently, Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett and his wife, Barbara, donated $450,000 to Basis Scottsdale middle school, citing its excellence. Basis offers a rigorous curriculum. Teachers begin in fifth and sixth grade to prepare 11-year-olds to take on pre-algebra and the first of three years each of chemistry, biology and physics. By the end of eighth grade, students are ready for pre-calculus. Each student must pass a comprehensive exam in sixth, seventh and eighth grades. If the child fails after two attempts, he or she must repeat the grade or leave. "We do for middle-class kids what public schools are designed to do: transform their lives," said retired Professor Michael Block, who opened Basis with his wife, Olga, in 1998. "We don't solve all problems. We do a certain thing. We do it well."
Source: The Arizona Republic, (11/22/2006)
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Jon Meacham, Editor of Newsweek, to Keynote at 2007 National Charter Schools Conference
Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham will be the kickoff keynote speaker at the 7th National Charter Schools Conference, set for April 24 – 27 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. More than 3,000 charter school colleagues will convene in the "Land of Enchantment" to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the movement and to hear Meacham's global outlook for educating students in the next 15 years and beyond. Meacham joins Kevin Johnson, former NBA basketball star and Founder/Chairman of the Board of St. HOPE Academy Charter School, as conference keynotes. Go to the conference website to register, make hotel reservations, and find out how to sign up for graduate credits/CEUs or to participate in the Virtual Career Fair. Hosted by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the conference will feature more than 120 breakout sessions, focusing on Quality, Policy, Advocacy and Capacity. For questions, e-mail nationalconference@publiccharters.org or call 206-463-3344.
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (11/09/2006)
Also See
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