Peer Reviewed Articles
1.)The Charter School Law in Massachusetts:Analysis, Commentary, Wish1:
David Rubin holds nothing back in expressing the negative consequences of Charter Schools in Massachusetts. Rubin explains how the Education Reform Act of 1993 supported the spread of charter schools at the expense of public schools and their communities. First off, because the law states that the Secretary of Education has the authority to establish charter schools, Rubin claims it gives too much power to the state government. As the Governor is the one that appoints the Secretary of Education, Rubin argues that Governor Weld, the conservative Governor of Massachusetts at the time, possessed too much authority in his crusade to privatize urban education, which consequently decreased the local control over public education. The law also decreased protections for teachers of charter schools. As for problems with the actual charter schools, the law gives charter schools the space to deny some students entry through testing. Additionally, the funding of the charter schools is taken directly from the public ones in that district.
2.) What Do Parents Think of Their Children’s Schools: 2
This Journal article addresses the increasingly popularity of charter schools. Additionally, it explores parents’ motivations in seeking out charters as an alternative to public schools. The study gathered data through surveying parents of school aged kids among three different locations in the US, all differing in race, class, education, and income. The study revealed that parents with children in charter schools are more likely to be more satisfied and in deeper communication with their school than parents of children in district schools. However, charter school parents are more likely to point out problems within their school than district ones. While parent’s perception of their children’s school do not have a direct correlation with the increase in charter schools, the voices of parents are an integral component in legislative decisions to increase the number of charters in a district.
Practitioner articles
1.) Inside Successful District-Charter Compacts3:
Over 20 public schools districts across the country have partnered with the charter schools in their district. A lot of these contracts are financially supported by the Gates Foundation, a well known advocate for charter schools. In an ideal model, these contracts would help district schools develop a “special culture” of intense work ethic while charter schools expand and gain much needed resources such as access to academic and extracurricular buildings. Within the Spring Branch district school for example, there was a higher emphasis placed on shaping the classroom culture after engaging in a partnership with YES prep and KIPP. This “culture” is reinforced in the public school through stricter standards on students; establishing SLANT (Sit up; Listen; Ask and answer questions; Nod your head; Track the speaker) is an example of this new classroom culture. As for charter schools, those that enter into “compacts” strengthen two of their widespread weakness. First, under performing charters are forced to meet performance standards that are in tune with the district’s school. Second, charters better their widely underfunded special education programs. In it’s best case, these contracts encourage charters and district schools to incorporate the best components of each other’s model. In doing so, however, both parties are knowingly supporting the growth of charter schools, which initially arrived at the expense of the districts’ school.
2.) Massachusetts Charter schools are few but Mighty4: This journal article compares the high performing charter schools in Massachusetts to Michigan’s underperforming ones. Unlike Michigan, Massachusetts charters adopt the “no excuse” performance standards of their district schools, they can only be authorized by MA state education board, the state has a cap the number of charter schools, and MA charters are shut down if they do not succeed within the first five years. Similarly, Boston charter schools have the fastest “student growth rate in standardized testing” in the country. Additionally, a study done by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) revealed that students in Boston charters learn twice as fast as their Boston Public Schools counterparts. When considering the results of Boston charters, it is important to consider the relative value in standardized testing. Meaning, the quality of a school’s education should not be rooted in a student’s testing ability, as it favors some learners over others. Finally, as many charter schools require entry testing, the process of admitting students could be contributing to the wide success of charter schools.
1.http://search.proquest.com/docview/1617061046/fulltext/891D7728CA0F4DC5PQ/1?accountid=9681#
2.http://search.proquest.com/docview/1884046915?pq-origsite=summon&http://library.bowdoin.edu/erl/ip/proquest_social_sci.cgi
3.http://search.proquest.com/docview/1646392654?pq-origsite=summon
4.http://search.proquest.com/docview/1651361273/fulltext/37780FE1B6274626PQ/1?accountid=9681