Here is an interesting and curious coincidence.
Edushyster reported the list of schools in Massachusetts with the highest suspension rate.
Most of them were charter schools.
The school with the highest suspension rate in the state of Massachusetts is Roxbury Prep. This charter school suspended 56.1% of its students for one or more days last year. The Boston public schools suspended less than 5% of its students last year.
Guess who was one of the founders of Roxbury Prep?
John King, the young State Commissioner of Education in New York, who was appointed based on his charter school experience in Massachusetts and New York.
The New York Times described Roxbury Prep as one of the top charter schools in Massachusetts.
Now we know why.
Is that one of the lessons that public schools can learn from charter schools? Suspend your students early and often? The more you suspend them, the better your school?
Is that 21st century thinking?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There is a “non-profit” group called Illinois Financial Fund that appears to get money from the big banks and foundations and then use it to help vouchers and charters plan buildings and acquire property. I wonder if anyone knows much about them. They were involved in about 20 voucher/charter schools in Milwaukee
I think this is the same organization that advised DC to expand the number of charters.
Another odd coincidence–the 2lst century apparently is intended to be an attempt to replay the 19th century. Including for schooling. Next, the rod!
Roxbury Prep is Commissioner. Dr. John King’s School …now we are stuck with this Charterized goof in New York.
I’m struggling to see what you’re getting at here. The NY Times article describes Roxbury Prep as a top school and you say, “Now we know why.” The article doesn’t say anything about what makes Roxbury a top school. Test scores? College acceptance rates? Suspension rates? If it’s the latter, then yes, that may very well be true.
Is there a source that validates the claim that Boston Public Schools suspend less than 5% of it’s students?
It’s not that hard to understand what I am getting at here. According to the article cited, which relies on state data, Roxbury Prep suspends more of its students every year than any other school in the state. The figure was 56%. The NY Times refers to this school as a “top school.” The Times doesn’t explain why it chose to describe the school that way. Maybe it has high test scores. Do you think a “top school” suspends more than half its students every year? Why don’t you check on the suspension rate for the Boston Public Schools and let me know what you find. I don’t have a research assistant.
Thanks for responding Diane. It may not be that hard for most people to understand what you’re getting at, but it is for me.
I think defining a school as a “top school” is too arbitrary. Given that, I can’t respond to your question asking me if I think a top school suspends more than half it’s students every year. What if more than half of it’s students are committing suspend-able offenses?
If disruption and misbehavior is so rampant that 56% of the students must be suspended every year, it is not a good school, let alone a “top school.” I didn’t call it a “top school.” The New York Times did.
The out of school suspension rate for BPS in 2011-12 was 4%.
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/student.aspx?orgcode=00350000&orgtypecode=5&leftNavId=303&
Also to clarify, this data which was posted on my blog and reprinted by EduShyster refers to whole districts, not individual schools. MA considers each charter to be a districts in itself and does not lump charter data in with the city in which they are located. For example, KIPP Lynn (one school, grades 5 -10) is one district and Lynn (a city with 26 schools, grades Pre-K – 12) is another separate district.
They are a business first, school second. In business you get rid of what doesn’t work. In public schools we take what doesn’t work and fix it.