Increasing choice is not necessarily a problem in the idea itself. Increasing choice allows the parents to be active in the education process. It gives them some control over the type of education they would like their student to have. But, the part that needs improvement is the choices available. Think of the idea of wanted to offer a child choices of what to have for a snack afterschool. You want them to learn to make choices and have some control, but you also don’t want them eating Oreos and Doritos non-stop. By giving them only positive things to choose from it is a win-win situation. Let’s offer them celery with peanut butter, goldfish and apples, or cheese and crackers. They get the freedom to choose, but we also know that there will be a positive outcome. Choice isn’t the issue; it’s the strength of things from which to choose.
If some of the choices include underperforming schools that are unsafe, lack academic standards, and don’t challenge the individuals then we need to relook at the requirements for schooling. Initially in our class discussion I was very surprised to hear the inconsistencies classmates shared about their charter schools. But then I thought, how can we challenge the charter schools for something that parallels the public schools? We have spent many classes discussing the inconsistencies in public schools. We have public schools that fall into the same categories of unsafe, lacking academic standards, and not challenging the individual. Why would we expect it to be different with the charter schools? If 1.2 million students are attending charter schools (as stated in Rethinking the Notion of Public vs. Private) there must be some draw from the parents.
I think what we need to address is the strength of our choices. We need to find a way to hold ALL schools accountable. I don’t have any problem with the idea of the voucher program. From the little I know I see benefits to giving the students in inner city schools choices, this can increase their education and also offer new experiences to those in private schools. But, as I said in class, we can’t just let this be a “band-aid”. We need to cure the base issue to hold the schools accountable and increase their education so the government isn’t paying more and more each year to send students out of the district. This also seems that it would hurt the inner city district because their highly motivated and educated students will be the ones to have the follow through to attend other schools.
I like the idea that was stated at the end of the article “Take the Time to Find the Best Charter School Practices”. That we need to take a minute and step back and reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of charter schools. This will help us to find ways to support the practices of charter schools while holding them accountable.
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Steff, I really liked your quote in the second paragraph of your blog concerning school choice--“If some of the choices include underperforming schools that are unsafe, lack academic standards, and don’t challenge the individuals then we need to relook at the requirements for schooling”. In listening to Kelly’s presentation of Charter schools, and her personal experience as a teacher in one, I would have to agree with your statement. Some of these Charter schools are not performing a whole lot better than their public counterparts. I noticed in the Fordham Foundation Report of 2005, entitled School Performance in Ohio’s inner cities: Comparing Charter and District School Results, their findings about the average performance of Ohio’s charter Schools “leaves much to be desired”. However, the performance of the urban public schools in the same district was of low performance as well. What is the point of the Charter School then? Ultimately, I think that if these Charter schools can benefit a small select few to achievement success, it would be worth it. According to Kelly, there are parents who get involved and the environment at her school is safer.
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ReplyDeleteI like the comparison you made at the beginning of your post about the after school snack. I agree with your statement about giving parents a variety of choices to make the right decision based on what their child needs.
Steff,
ReplyDeleteNice reflection. I thought you represented quite a few important parts. Thank you for your comments about what you learned about charter schools. You asked if I feel that our students appreciate the curriculum more and I would have to say yes. The students at our schools have such great attitudes about their learning. I rarely have discipline issues...it seems that everyone wants to be there. I cannot say for sure but I have a strong feeling that it has to do with some of the morals and values that come form their homes. The students are very respectful, help each other, do not make fun of or exclude students with disabilities. They work hard and I cannot wait to see their test scores because we worked together as a team and I was proud of my kids. Kelly was mentioning in her presentation that her kids were unfortunate not to have good up to date textbooks. I really think this should be addressed because a good school public or private would put this first in part of their school priorities. How are these students learning appropriately with out of date textbooks. We offer alot of manipulatives, computer lab time, new reading curriculum, etc and maybe this is why are students have more of an interest. Hope this helps clarify some things for you.
Great post. I agree with your post. I feel that there is a need for parents to have mulitple choices. However, we need to make the choices better, whether it be public, private, charter or home-schooled. If we only allow the parents choices of bad and worse the students will never recieve a valuable education. Much like your statement of children and snacks.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the "snack" reference. We need to give families as many quality choices as possible. Unfortunately, as with snacks, the unhealthy options are out there in the form of some of our school buildings. Until we have some sweeping changes to help the impoverished, broken, and disfunctional families--we're going to continue to have some poor performing schools. Remember we're dealing with humans here--and some (from every race/background) are lazy, mean, disturbed, sick, strung out from addictions, etc. Schools will always have these types of families to deal with (gotta take the bad with the good). When we help those families out and reduce that population through intervention--then maybe we'll truly get somewhere. Maybe President Obama and other leaders will establish a program for the needy at the 2 yr old to 6 yr old level---to give these kids a fighting chance.
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