The City University of New York is offering courses in “how to pick a charter school” ($75) and “how to pick a public school” ($75). See page 26 of the link.
So this is what “choice” means. You have to take a course at a public university to figure out how to choose a school for your child.
Only in New York.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ha! And if you’re a poor parent without access to such information? Without the time, nor money to attend? Too bad for you. Shame on the public CUNY system for profiting from this.
They don’t need to offer a course for charter schools on “how to pick a student.” They’ve already figured that out: pick the best ones so the public thinks that good charters make good students rather than good students make good charters.
It seems everyone is cashing in nowadays.
This is the entrepreneurial game. Create a market where one does not exist (most often in place of a fully functional basic public service) and then profitize it. While the big bucks are in nation- or state-wide high stakes standardized testing and teacher evaluation, there is still gobs of money to be made directly from parents. Parents, beware: snake oil abounds.
Many parents cannot afford or will not pay to be marketed to. This strategy, then, is another excellent opportunity to cream the crop of charter school applicants. We see this in Chicago where charter schools on average enroll only 35% of their students from the neighborhoods in which the schools reside. They also under enroll students with disabilities, students with severe disabilities, students with tattoos (the charter down the street doesn’t allow them) and English Language Learners.
Over two years the incoming class at my highly successful Chicago neighborhood school has been cut in half by our local charter school’s obsessive selective marketing, selective enrollment, and selective discharge of students who “aren’t a good fit” for their “no excuses” environment. All this despite the fact that the charter has no answers for our top-15-in-the-state music program, award winning debate and mock law teams, mathlete champions, city champion soccer teams, International Baccalaureate/AP/AVID programs, widely recognized social justice club, millions and millions of dollars in earned college scholarships, four-year cohort growth in the top-5 in the city, the highest teacher retention rate of any high school in Chicago, plus dozens of extra- and co-curricular activities in the arts and sciences.
Besides changing at my own school the ratio of students from committed, dedicated families to students who require more academic, social, and emotional supports (which we proudly provide, unlike the local charter), our school has, for the first time, been forced to expend time and money on advertising and marketing. That time and money, of course, would be better spent instructing and supporting students directly. Alas, this is the “market” in which teaching and learning now takes place in the “Renaissance” that is Chicago’s publicly funded public education.
I think you need an education to pick a public school. Parents have no idea about the many failed fads that are rehashed, renamed and reimplemented in public schools.
OBE would be one of many examples.
I just heard from a parent who is looking into starting a Hillsdale Charter School. Core knowledge k-8 then Hillsdale, with a focus on civics for high school. A recipe for SUCCESS among the many failing public schools in our state.
I do see SOME charters walking in the same failed paths as the public schools and embracing those fads, but it’s nice to know that out of that heap of dust, can come some good things.
I’d do a public Core Knowledge school for my kids in a public, charter or private school. Unfortunately the anti-knowledge Progressive educators that dominate the public schools right now think social engineering is more important than academic content.
IF public schools go back to the basics and stop trying to raise my child cradle to grave and decide academic excellence is more important, I’d consider saving the tuition and rejoin the public schools.
Instead of fighting the inevitable, maybe Diane, you should focus on the failures in the public schools and how to make them better. If I recall, you support academic excellence by rejecting more failed fads from the 21st Century Skills people.
I think that is where you should put your efforts.
Highlighting the anti-knowledge Progressives who want to water down academic excellence in the public schools.
my children are in a k-8 core knowledge public charter school operating as an instrumentality of the district- meaning the district approved the charter and can close it at the end of the contract if it is not meeting standards.
The relationship has been excellent with the district- we even share facility space and staff and the economic savings are mutually beneficial. the school has a requirement to serve a demographic close to the district and the district assists in promoting the school to all income levels. the school serves low-income, non-english speakers and students with disabilities. It is one of the oldest and most successful Direct Instruction schools in the nation with student WKCE scores meeting or exceeding state and district standards in nearly all areas.
Lottery enrollment, deep waiting lists as K and high in-district demand show the school is a benefit to local families and meeting needs of students. If we could expand we would but we have to share all the students in the district. This competition for students is a major drawback but the board has recently agreed to funding our school at the same levels as local public neighborhood schools so we have to be as efficient in use of funds and even more creative if our instruction methods are more labor intensive. Parent volunteers are critical to the success of a school of this type- and even though parents choose charter options, not all have the time or skills to volunteer. Parent engagement in any school is CRITICAL to student success.
I used to be someone who was pro- non-instrumentality schools (they get the state funds directly and use them as they see fit ) but now I support instrumentality schools because we contribute to the district in a positive way and we are just as accountable. Non-instrumentality schools also have to have strong community and CORPORATE support (read dollars or leverage with the school board!) because the cost of facility construction/purchase is astronomical, transportation costs are high and the cost of providing teachers/staff life/health/disability insurance is too costly for non-instrumentality public schools.
Instrumentality schools would like to have more $, we would like to have more autonomy but in the long run we are pleased to be able to offer a curriculum we choose and we are pleased to have our union teachers participate in the benefits of working for the district.
Sadly, not all states are set up with local school boards as charter authorizors and not all states offer instrumentality options.
Critical Questions Democrats Must Ask About School Choice…
Left-leaning people everywhere recently got a hoot when the Texas Republican Party declared its opposition to the teaching of “Higher Order Thinking Skills,” including “critical thinking skills,” in public schools. more »…