Thanks to our former (and exceptional) principal, Ted Appel, I learned about a New York Times book review that recently appeared about Robert Pondiscio’s new book about the large charter school network in New York City called Success Academy.
The review was written by Dale Russakoff, who I’ve previously talked about in this blog.
I’ve also posted an interview I did a few years ago with Robert Pondiscio.
The book review has a great line that I think nails the advantage charters have over regular schools
I’m adding this info to The Best Posts & Articles Analyzing Charter Schools.
Hey, Larry. Long time no speak! Thanks for the attention for my book; if you get the chance to read it, I’d love to discuss it with you. The quote above is a good summary of what I found at Success Academy, although I wish I hadn’t used “cherry-picking” to describe it. It implies it’s the school doing the picking, not the parents (elsewhere I describe SA as a “self-selection engine.”
The discussion I’d like to see happen, however, hasn’t occurred. Yes, I think charter schools generally (and SA particularly) have advantages in parent self-selection that make comparisons to traditional schools challenging and often unfair. But follow this where it leads: does this mean parents should not have the ability to self-select into better settings for their children. I’m very much of the mind that no parent’s child is a public resource to be commanded to attend a school — any school — that is not working for them. Nor should we presume to keep a child in a such a setting because of some perceived benefit to others. Candor about self-selection, in other words, does not require us to stop it.
Others, I’m certain, will disagree. How about you?
Robert,
I don’t have an issue with having charter schools, particularly ones that embody their original intention of educational innovation. Where it gets tricky, however, is thinking about how many charter schools there should be and when their quantity (and their unfair escape from legacy costs borne by school districts) begins to harm the educational opportunities of a greater number of students. As in most things in our society, it seems to me that we need to balance private advantage with the common good. I’m happy to see that here in California, laws passed in our legislature this month are beginning to recognize the importance of that kind of balance.
Larry