Robert Cotto Jr. says on Jon Pelto’s blog that charter cheerleaders have oversold the “success” of charter schools. Many charters have fewer students with disabilities and fewer English language learners than public schools.
When demographic differences are taken into account, the charter “success story” goes up in smoke.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Well, Charter Schools are a SHAM.
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Always wanted to use this phrase: they are using a false equivalent.
Comparing the outcomes should be done on a apples/apples, not apples/oranges.
Now take the demographic differences out. What are the results then?
Just asking the question. Pure curiosity.
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The folks looking at the critical details: us.
The folks looking entirely at the hype:
Politicians. Most of the public.
Hype matters. We have none on our side. That is a real problem. We have the studies, academic papers, and some long form journalism pieces…..you know, the stuff politicians avoid, the media ignores, and the general public doesn’t read.
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Agreed!
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How do we get the hype on our side?
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In addition to feeding the media what they want to see reported, they cherry pick data. Charters also have a talent for comparing apples to pears as in the case of Connecticut It is easier to get positive results when special education and ELL numbers are lower.
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Positive Selective Spotlighting — what our national media has been promoting as the ONLY way to do “investigative” charter school journalism in modern days.
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I am interest whether the research on Charter school effectiveness also leaves out the students of those charters which have failed due to fraud or mismanagement. Is there any way to estimate this? How does this affect the comparisons, and especially the much-cited CREDO studies?
Also I would be interested in spotting the practices in those charter schools which do better, and the public schools which use the same practices.
I keep getting the feeling that the comparisons are methodologically flawed.
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Of course they are methodologically flawed.
It doesn’t take constant painstaking research and papers to figure that out.
Our side needs to stop thinking that it is somehow enough to show that things such as this are “flawed.” Charter schools and the reasoning behind them are all BS.
Being right is not nearly enough.
The hype thing. The narrative thing. That’s where we are getting killed. Having hype and a narrative tsunami is what we need…..and it would be even stronger because it is correct and right. You have to sell being right. Being right doesn’t absolve us from marketing.
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I am all in favor of a strong narrative. Discrediting the opposition is part of that. And if they are ignoring widespread fraud, which discredits their claims, it would be a powerful argument.
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One could look at the billions spent on technology purchases, with all the promises of better outcomes, much of it demanded by teachers, as fraud as well.
Published today:
“Cupertino Union School District spokesman Jeff Bowman insists placing iPads in every middle-schooler’s hands has improved students’ quality of work, language ability, behavior and organizational skills, though the district has no quantifiable evidence of better learning”
“No quantifiable evidence of better learning…” From the same article, “District officials and many teachers tout the iPads as innovative learning tools. Students, it seems, are thrilled to have them. But many parents in the affluent district—including some software engineers, Apple employees and a brain researcher—question the benefit of the devices, and hundreds have signed a petition to limit their use.”
And yet, the school district will spend $360,000
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