Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Click here: Study of Test Scores Finds Charter Schools Lagging - New York Times

This gets complicated.

Beware of "studies that show..." conclusions.

But poor children should be able to get into better schools.

We have done a number of Think Tank programs on the issue. Even those "experts" who oppose charter schools back off when it is noted that they are only "experimental."

The movement is growing, rapidly "the fastest-growing sector in public education..." according to NYTimes (08/23/06)

Inexplicably (to me) the teacher's unions (one of which, the American Federation of Teachers, takes very wise national positions) have opted not to accept invitations to appear on the program.

I sat next to the late Al Shanker, arguably a Neo-Con, on a long flight to a human rights (CSCE) conference in Madrid. I was pro- he was anti- . He was so persuasive, I didn't write a word about it in my column for about five years!

Ben

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

But poor children should be able to get into better schools.

Actually, if a school has enough "poor", i.e. non-white, especially Black and Hispanic, students, it will almost certainly be a "bad school" -- sooner or later. This is because on achievement tests -- which is how school quality is measured, isn't it? -- they do, on average, poorly. Poorer than Whites and Asians.

In particular: Did you know that black children who have parents with graduate degrees score lower, on average, than white children of parents who only graduated high school?

August 24, 2006  

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