Ohio has terrible education policy—it is a leader in privatization—but very strong data collection. Its data demonstrate how awful its policies are.
In this post, you will learn that the graduates of charter schools are least likely to earn a college degree within six years after high school as compared to every other kind of school.
Stephen Dyer writes:
”One of the more interesting — and telling — datasets now available with the state report card is how kids who graduate from Ohio’s schools perform after they graduate. For example, we now know the percentage of graduates who have a college degree within 6 years, as well as how many graduates have enrolled in college within 2 years of graduation.
“Looking at these two metrics, it’s remarkable how bad charter schools perform. Overall, Ohio school districts have 5 times the rate of students with college degrees that charters have. And Big 8 urban districts (Akron, Canton, Cincinnati. Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown) have twice the rate.”
Some charter schools had zero college graduates.
Open the link for the graphs from the state website.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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Perhaps this outcome is partly due to the reason parents choose the charter over the public schools. Maybe some of these kids are not doing well at the public school and the parents hope a change of venue will give their child a fresh start/better chance at being successful.
However – same children, same results!
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… or …
Perhaps that charter schools are overwhelmingly staffed by uncredentialed, inexperienced, uneducated in a university teacher training, and short-time (2 or 3 years on on to a different career or on to charter management) teachers who, in part because of their short time in the classroom or had no formal university training … aren’t very good at teaching (or not very good yet, but would have become good in time had they stayed longer);
… and …
Perhaps that charter schools employ an authoritarian approach (Thanks Doug Lemov and TFA!) to pedagogy that doesn’t promote and nurture (and in fact kills the development of) critical and independent thinking, or any imagination or creativity (a limited curriculum of no arts, music, etc. .. no sports teams, etc.) — essentials skills that their college classmates (who graduated from private schools and traditional public schools) possess in spakes because those skills were not only nurtured in high school, but demanded of them prior to graduation (but not so at Acme Charter Academy);
… and …
Perhaps charter schools, in and effort to save money, stick their kids in front of a computer for most (or all with virtual charters) of the day, and this makes them unable to cope with an actual classroom environment, while their college peers have.
I could go on, but I have to go teach at one of those traditional public schools staffed by unionized teachers.
Cheers!
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I teach at one of the virtual charters. I have 25+ years of industry experience, a bachelors in engineering, a master’s in another field, a formal university training experience at a teaching college, a highly qualified teaching license earned through a four year state required resident educator program all teachers must pass, 8 years of teaching experience. Oh, and prior teaching I helped start 3 high tech companies, raised three kids, and still fix my own cars.
Before stereotyping others, please point out my “uncredentialed, inexperienced, uneducated” aspects, if you please?
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While it is dangerous to generalize and I know some excellent teachers who work at charter schools, there is also a shortage of candidates.
That is why New York State is eliminating the requirement for teachers at charter schools to be certified. They don’t even need a college degree.
It makes one question our entire profession as we are moving towards the one room schoolhouse mentality where the older kids teach the younger ones.
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Vale Math,
Are you typical of cyber charter teachers? Studies and reports concur that cyber charter teachers are paid substantially less than teachers in brick and mortar schools. They teach classes of 150 or more. It is not treatment accorded to professionals.
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Whoa, MathVale/Vale Math. How you been?
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You’re the man-bites-dog exception to this situation.
While I commend your impressive credentials and accomplishments and abilities as a teacher, you are by far the rare exception.
If that last sentence constitutes “stereotyping,” then so be it.
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This is consistent with some of the Success Academy data with the NYC elite high schools. Not one placement in Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech or Stuyvesant, which isn’t the case with the much less well funded Catholic schools.
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This should be a clear red flag to the taxpayers of Ohio. Charters schools are performing worse while they weaken the services in the public schools. Public schools are a much more thorough and efficient use of public funds. As far as parents moving to charters because their child struggled in the public school, this may be true. However, large urban schools can offer better choices for students as long as they have the funding. Most large districts offer technical, vocational programs, various types of special education taught by trained professionals, alternative schools for homeless or emotionally troubled young people. Public schools in large districts are not “one size fits all” which is all most charters know how to do. Public schools are a much better investment for any community. They need to be supported so they can serve the diverse needs of students.
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retired teacher,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
Like I have written several times, “You should be Secretary of Education” for this nation.
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Retired teacher – that’s the irony – the public schools already have diverse programs in place. Charters aren’t even trying to reinvent the wheel – they just want to take over. Yes, there are issues, but they go way beyond the control of the teacher in a classroom whether it’s public or charter.
It will take a community to resolve the inequities of society and the government is just making things worse, not better. Perhaps the grassroots efforts, such as the readers of Diane’s blog, will make enough noise for society to take notice.
Remember Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who? We are the Whos and we need to Yop!
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Don’t be silly. Charters are super-duper awesome. Just read any of the ed reform propoganda outlets.
Here’s an interview in Ed Post with a CEO who plans to plunk a chain of charter schools down in rural Kentucky.
“He is also dedicated to improving rural education. Campbell helped lead the effort to open a new charter school next fall because he struggles to find local employees qualified to work in his company and credits education for his success as “just a rural kid from Kentucky.”
No analysis at all. No mention of what this chain of charter schools might do to the local community or the local public schools, when every high scoring kid in the rural public school transfers to the charter.
No real questions, no debate. The CEO smears the local school board and no one at Ed Post even bothers to contact a member of the school board so they can defend themselves.
100% pom pom shaking and cheerleading. Any charter school anywhere is better than any public school in ed reform and there is absolutely no consideration of ANY ramifications for the school system or the community. They just roll right over the local school board and launch the charter chain because who cares what happens to the public schools, right? THOSE families aren’t important.
Peter Cunningham, formerly of the Obama Administration, runs this fake ed reform newspaper. Why do former members of the Obama Administration spend so much time attacking public schools and promoting charters?
http://educationpost.org/coffee-break-why-the-ceo-of-an-aerospace-company-opened-a-charter-school-for-rural-kids/
I hope the good people of Kentucky are ready- they’re about to get Ohio-style ed reform, where public schools aren’t supported and anyone can plunk down any charter school anywhere. It will be a disaster, just like it’s been a disaster in OH, MI, PA and IN.
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Buffalo pleaded with the state authorities for a moritorium on charters, but their cries fell on deaf ears. About one in five students from the city attend a charter with two new ones scheduled to open this year and two more in the pipeline. Obviously funding is tight.
However, one of the charter schools is scheduled to close due to low test scores. The principal, who supposedly was keeping this news of poor performance a secret from the “administrators”, resigned. Now they want a second chance.
Same song, different verse.
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What’s most notable about ed reform in Ohio, a “movement” that wholly dominates state government, is how little they do for PUBLIC schools.
90% of kids in Ohio attend public schools but you would never know it listening to the ed reform choir in Columbus. They’re either irrelevant or harmful to NINETY per cent of the people in this state and yet they utterly dominate policy.
It’s nuts. In no other part of state government is there this big a divide between reality and ideological zeal. Ohio lawmakers spend most of their time addressing a privatized school system that DOESN’T EXIST, other than as an ideological fantasy or goal.
They no longer do the actual work they’re paid to do. They simply opted to work exclusively for the theoretical privatized system they hope to install. It’s the craziest thing I’ve even seen.
It’s as if you had people running Medicaid who decided amongst themselves they didn’t really feel like running Medicaid so they would instead work on a theoretical system that replaces Medicaid, because they prefer the imaginary system. Who does this? How did they get so far out there that they no longer have ANYTHING of value to offer public school families? Ed reformers could all quit en masse on Friday and public school families would never notice.
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Chiara,
YES, agree: “It’s nuts.” Remember the drug crisis in Ohio? And then, there’s the factory jobs going away as well.
Read: HILLBILLY ELEGY, a memoir by J.D. Vance. When I read this book a lot of my confusion became less confusing.
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Makes total sense, since the only thing most if not all corporate charters do differently than community-based, democratic, transparent, non-profit, unionized traditional public schools, is to create a brutal environment where children are verbally and physically abused to force them to pay attention with a diabolical goal to raise test scores … the only goal while cutting corners and eliminating the best instructional practices that are designed to create life-long learners. Cut art. Cut PE and recess. Cut music. Cut sports. But bully the children to be silent and focus on only the teacher.
There is little or no focus in the corporate charters to teach children to be critical thinkers and problems solvers.
The end result is a child that grows up hating school who can’t think for themselves and solve problems.
The only way the corporate charters can win is to also take over the universities and colleges and turn them into abusive, test taking factories where children that think for themselves will end up being the failures and the few that earn useless degrees are miserable drones programmed to love being abused.
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