Post by Tim Collins on Dec 15, 2008 11:24:18 GMT -7
Anyone have experience with Charter Schools in El Paso? I always wondered if the goal of these schools has been realized.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-xgr-charterschool,0,7676023.story
Study may stoke legislative charter school debate
Associated Press
9:20 AM CST, December 15, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS - A state-funded study of Indiana's charter schools has found that "no practical difference" exists between the alternative schools and traditional public schools.
The 180-page report is expected to stoke legislative debate in the upcoming session of the General Assembly, where one Democratic lawmaker plans to seek a moratorium on new charter schools and try to restrict their funding.
"They are not making the significant difference that they were envisioned to do," said state Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, who serves on the House Education Committee. "The bottom line is that they're not producing."
Legislators agreed to spend $100,000 on the charter school study last year after Smith led unsuccessful attempts to place a moratorium on new charter schools and restrict funding.
Smith told The Times of Munster he plans to revive those efforts when the Legislature reconvenes next month.
The report by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University contains a wealth of information about charter schools, which lawmakers authorized seven years ago.
But it doesn't declare a winner in the partisan feud over whether charter schools outperform traditional public schools academically.
Among the report's conclusions, it says that "at the elementary and middle school levels, the available data suggest little practical difference between student outcomes in charter versus traditional public schools, although student outcomes in charter schools have improved over the past few years."
The report also says not enough data was available to make conclusions about student performance at charter high schools.
And the authors don't reach any conclusion on whether the schools deserve more or less public funding.
"People have staked out black and white positions, yet the reality exists in shades of gray," said Jonathan Plucker, director of the IU center that published the report. "Some of the things I thought I knew about charter schools turned out to be things I needed to reconsider, and we hope this evaluation has that effect on others."
Charter schools, which enjoy greater curriculum freedom than public schools, began in Minnesota in 1992 and a decade later they came to Indiana, which now has 49 charter schools.
The IU study found that racial minorities, primarily black students, account for 70 percent of enrollment in Indiana charter schools, which are clustered in urban areas.
Students there pass achievement tests at rates within a few percentage points of statewide averages for public schools.
Indiana school districts spent $11,043 per pupil last year, the study found, while charter schools averaged $9,279. But because charter schools don't receive funding for transportation or facilities, those facilities spent about $2,000 more per child from their general funds.
Smith contends students who transfer to charter schools -- taking a year of public funding with them -- often return to their public schools the same year, resulting in a funding loss for their home districts.
But the IU study determined that students who transfer to charter schools remain at those facilities an average of two years.
----
On the Net:
Center for Evaluation and Education Policy: www.indiana.edu/ ~ceep/
www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-xgr-charterschool,0,7676023.story
Study may stoke legislative charter school debate
Associated Press
9:20 AM CST, December 15, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS - A state-funded study of Indiana's charter schools has found that "no practical difference" exists between the alternative schools and traditional public schools.
The 180-page report is expected to stoke legislative debate in the upcoming session of the General Assembly, where one Democratic lawmaker plans to seek a moratorium on new charter schools and try to restrict their funding.
"They are not making the significant difference that they were envisioned to do," said state Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, who serves on the House Education Committee. "The bottom line is that they're not producing."
Legislators agreed to spend $100,000 on the charter school study last year after Smith led unsuccessful attempts to place a moratorium on new charter schools and restrict funding.
Smith told The Times of Munster he plans to revive those efforts when the Legislature reconvenes next month.
The report by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University contains a wealth of information about charter schools, which lawmakers authorized seven years ago.
But it doesn't declare a winner in the partisan feud over whether charter schools outperform traditional public schools academically.
Among the report's conclusions, it says that "at the elementary and middle school levels, the available data suggest little practical difference between student outcomes in charter versus traditional public schools, although student outcomes in charter schools have improved over the past few years."
The report also says not enough data was available to make conclusions about student performance at charter high schools.
And the authors don't reach any conclusion on whether the schools deserve more or less public funding.
"People have staked out black and white positions, yet the reality exists in shades of gray," said Jonathan Plucker, director of the IU center that published the report. "Some of the things I thought I knew about charter schools turned out to be things I needed to reconsider, and we hope this evaluation has that effect on others."
Charter schools, which enjoy greater curriculum freedom than public schools, began in Minnesota in 1992 and a decade later they came to Indiana, which now has 49 charter schools.
The IU study found that racial minorities, primarily black students, account for 70 percent of enrollment in Indiana charter schools, which are clustered in urban areas.
Students there pass achievement tests at rates within a few percentage points of statewide averages for public schools.
Indiana school districts spent $11,043 per pupil last year, the study found, while charter schools averaged $9,279. But because charter schools don't receive funding for transportation or facilities, those facilities spent about $2,000 more per child from their general funds.
Smith contends students who transfer to charter schools -- taking a year of public funding with them -- often return to their public schools the same year, resulting in a funding loss for their home districts.
But the IU study determined that students who transfer to charter schools remain at those facilities an average of two years.
----
On the Net:
Center for Evaluation and Education Policy: www.indiana.edu/ ~ceep/