Education Leaders Debate Closures of Poor-Performing Public Charters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/08/AR2008060802029.html

Shutting down poor performing public charter schools has become a lively part of the national debate over charter schools, according to the Washington Post. "You can sense there is a battle for the heart and soul of the charter movement, with some players focused keenly on quality while others are still more concerned with market share and breaking the monopoly of public education," said Ross Wiener of the Education Trust, which promotes better education for disadvantaged children. "I think the national organizations and some of the stronger state organizations are moving in the direction of making quality the top priority, but there's still a large faction that thinks charters are better than traditional schools and should be protected." Public charter critics say that all public charters drain resources for regular schools and that poorly performing public charters often remain open long after data show they are not succeeding. Public charter school advocates say public charters receive much closer scrutiny than most regular schools. Still, some public charter school supporters say the failure to close more schools is a problem. Andrew Rotherham, co-director of the Washington think tank Education Sector, said the National Association of Charter School Authorizers has found a useful technique: improve the methods of the authorizing boards that decide when and how to close failing public charter schools.

Source: Washington Post (free registration required)
Date: 06/08/2008