This website, called “KnowYourCharter” is powerful. It dispels the myth that charter schools are superior to public schools. A few are, but most are not. Even in some of the lowest-performing, most impoverished districts in the state, the public schools outperform many charter schools.
You can plug in the name of any school district in the state and see how the public school district compares to individual charter schools. They are compared by such factors as state funding per pupil, overall state performance rating, average teaching experience of teachers, and how much money the charters extract from the public system.
It takes only a moment to click the button. Open the link and you will learn more in a few minutes than by reading tomes about charters.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
With all the data that the federal government claims it needs to have to be able to compare schools, you’d think they would require schools in every state to identify the educational levels of parents, break down the number of students eligible for free lunch separately from those eligible for reduced price lunch, as well as identify the number of students with mild, moderate and severe disabilities and first, second and third year English language learners. Without that data, people can’t know if they are comparing apples with apples, which suggests the government doesn’t really want anyone to know that.
LikeLike
“The data” doesn’t matter a bit in Ohio and it hasn’t for the last 17 years of ed reform.
“The D.C. public school system has long been used as an example of what’s broken in American public education, listed at the bottom of national rankings and written off for its low performance. But this week, President Obama held up the city’s school district as an example of what’s promising in education today.
Obama cited the District along with Fresno, Calif., and Cleveland as examples of positive change.”
Cleveland is following the Obama/Kasich recipe for reform. That’s the one and only reason Obama chose it as an example of “positive change” – it’s political. Apparently no one in DC can find a single “positive change” in any of the other Ohio urban districts. There’s a reason for that and it has nothing to do with “data”.
It simply doesn’t matter how many hoops public schools jump thru. They were designated the losers at the outset of this fake “experiment” and the train just keeps rolling.
LikeLike
And of course, the big surprise – the one school that rated “A” lists >95% gifted while the top “F” on the list has over 60% special needs kids. Hmmmm
LikeLike
The surprise to me was how many really good districts are losing students to lower-performing charters. Under no circumstances are these “failing schools”. I lived in one of the suburban Toledo districts for two years when my older children were small and the public schools were an absolute selling point. These places HAVE affordable housing. Strong public schools-affordable housing. It’s one of the reasons we rented there. We didn’t end up staying but that was job-related.
I don’t know how weakening strong schools in affordable areas advances the cause. It’s counter-productive. These are not “wealthy suburban schools”. They’re schools with mixed income- schools where lower income people can get a really good value.
LikeLike
Common Core is a diversion. Charter Schools are a MAJOR threat to public education and if we don’t stand up now we will find one day there are no traditional schools left and the complete elimination of elected school boards. That is how the government will gain complete control and destroy any shred of parental authority left. We are drinking the snake oil and one day parents will find they not only have less choice but will have no voice. Just talk to some parents in New Orleans. And New Orleans is the model for the country. We need to put a site like this together for EVERY state. Problem is this information is not available for the public to see in every state.
LikeLike
Charters choose their students and parents. The illusion of parental choice is strong, but the realities are different. In Ohio Kasich is permitting charter fraud at scale and with no accountability for the waste, fraud, and diversion of money from public education.
LikeLike
All states should have to offer some form of “Know Your Charter” so that the public can use the results to make informed decisions regarding their children. If this information were required to be posted, it could avoid parents sending their children to lower performing charters. If the government insists on charter school options, they should have to provide data so parents can use the information to guide their decision.
LikeLike
What is available for other states?
LikeLike
At least in Utah, absolutely NOTHING. All schools get a grade, but it’s totally on test scores and therefore almost completely correlates with poverty. Besides, parents in Utah don’t pick a charter for “better” education. They pick a charter so that their kids don’t have to mix with those “other” kids. It’s sick.
LikeLike
But you’re not only reaching charter school parents. You’re reaching public school parents.
To listen to the dominant political narrative, one would think these public schools do worse than charter schools. That’s not true. A site like this shows it to be false.
It shows something else, too. In a state like Ohio, it shows how the dominant narrative of “wealthy suburban districts” and “poor failing districts” isn’t true either. There are lots of Ohio school districts that are in between those two extremes with a mix of economic levels that are getting hurt by the unregulated expansion and government promotion of charters. There’s a downside to this. That’s the downside.
LikeLike
Dear Diane, Is there ANY way to get this information to the Obama admin and policy makers before public Ed is completely defunded and destroyed? Nance K teacher California
Sent from my iPhone
>
LikeLike
Dear Diane, Is there ANY way to get this website KnowYourCharter and information to the Obama admin and policy makers ( maybe more important, the general public) before public ed is completely de-funded and destroyed? Is there money that can be raised to launch a major ad campaign that can inform the public of what is happening? 60 Minutes maybe? Is anyone out there who is working on this? The average person is not aware of how out of control things have become. Anyone I talk to who isn’t in education is only vaguely aware of charter schools and not at all aware of the billions that have been made by profiteers and the billions of taxpayer dollars that have been wasted on this insanity. This includes many public school parents. The “bad school/bad teacher” propaganda has been heard loud and clear. If you repeat a lie loud enough, long enough and often enough, the people will believe it.That’s a paraphrase from Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda guy. Fraud and waste surely have to be looked into before charter schools are so blindly supported by this administration. The news that congress plans to increase charter school funding was like a kick in the gut. Charters are supported even by those politicians who have no financial interests. I just don’t get that. This blog is a godsend, and we support and hold each other up, but we are preaching to the choir. We need to reach a much larger audience. The children of America are being screwed. N Just another frustrated Kindergarten teacher California
On Sun, May 10, 2015 at 8:55 AM, Nancy Endicott wrote:
> Dear Diane, > Is there ANY way to get this information to the Obama admin and policy > makers before public Ed is completely defunded and destroyed? > Nance > K teacher > California > > Sent from my iPhone > > On May 10, 2015, at 6:03 AM, Diane Ravitch’s blog comment-reply@wordpress.com> wrote: > > dianeravitch posted: “This website, called “KnowYourCharter” is > powerful. It dispels the myth that charter schools are superior to public > schools. A few are, but most are not. Even in some of the > lowest-performing, most impoverished districts in the state, the public > schools o”
LikeLike
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Charter-Scam-Week-2015-By-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Charter-Schools_Choice_Evidence_Fraud-150511-861.html#comment544580
comment at end has link to this piece:
“Here is another site to offer people the reality of the CHARTER SCHOOL SCAM: This website, called “KnowYourCharter” is powerful. It dispels the myth that charter schools are superior to public schools. A few are, but most are not. Even in some of the lowest-performing, most impoverished districts in the state, the public schools outperform many charter schools.You can plug in the name of any school district in the state and see how the public school district compares to individual charter schools. They are compared by such factors as state funding per pupil, overall state performance rating, average teaching experience of teachers, and how much money the charters extract from the public system.”
LikeLike