Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, delves into the charter lobby’s boasts about enrollment growth during the pandemic. Most of that increase, she found, was in virtual charter schools, the lowest performing of all charter schools. Her post appeared on Valerie Strauss’s blog at The Washington Post.
Burris writes:
Last October, this post examined state 2020-21 enrollment data indicating that large numbers of students had during the coronavirus pandemic moved to virtual charter schools, which are notorious for being the lowest performing schools in the charter sector. Researchers and advocacy organizations, including the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, had previously been highly critical of virtual charters….
Charters operated by the for-profit online giant Stride K12 increased from 72,474 students in 2019-2020 to 110,767 in 2020-2021. Its strongest competitor, Pearson’s Connections Academy, experienced even stronger proportional growth, from 53,673 to 85,749.
Overall, the for-profit-run charter sector enrolled more than 50 percent of all students registered in virtual charters during both years…
In March 2022, the GAO issued a blistering report on virtual charter schools. The analysis showed that virtual charter students lagged behind their peers in brick-and-mortar charter schools, and even further behind students in brick-and-mortar public schools in publicly overseen districts.
When the GAO reviewed student proficiency in math and reading, they found “the national average math proficiency rate for virtual charter schools was 25 percentage points lower than the rate for brick-and-mortar traditional schools” and “the average reading proficiency rate for virtual charter schools was 9 percentage points lower than brick-and-mortar traditional schools.”
(Government Accountability Office analysis) (The Washington Post/Government Accountability Office)
While many virtual charter operators claim that the students attending their schools are often already lagging, the GAO made sure to control for several factors that could impact these proficiency rates, including past academic performance and student mobility. Even after controlling for those factors, the GAO still found virtual students’ scores statistically significantly behind brick-and-mortar public school students’. Not only that, fewer virtual students bothered to take state tests.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
1)Education Deform
2)Guns
Get rid of Deform (and ALL the toxic garbage that goes with it) and enact common sense gun laws and parents will be happy to send their children back into public schools. Parents have been “quiet quitting” public schools since CC/testing madness took over. The private schools in my area are now filled with former public school students AND teachers (this was pre-Covid). Parents now know there is no way that “the system” will listen to their concerns so they will do what they think is best for the safety (mentally and physically) for their children.
great line: “parents have been “quiet quitting” public schools since CC/Testing took over.” A KEY POINT, and part of the larger strategy from day one.
Don’t forget that David Coleman, architect of Common Core, was on the board of Michelle Rhee’s I’ll-fated Students First.
To the extent that public schools parents leave public schools, the Deformers win.
The level of hypocrisy and gaslighting to justify the worship at the altar of the Almighty Dollar is breathtaking. First, pile on the teacher’s union for “closing schools” during the pandemic, even though charters closed as well, and they aren’t unionized (for the most part). After all the parental yelling and screaming and shaming, pivot 720 degrees, channel all that parental anger, and steer families right back into their homes. Because everything is “safer” there, and you don’t have to deal with exhausted teachers and pencil-tapping students. I’ve seen ads on my Facebook feed for Stride K12. They literally use the “tired teacher” trope to justify their brand of non-education. https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fow.ly%2FkT2P50JQ15X%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0LlocW4gKggs_qW4tVfVPTc1IL-bZFOOATIjD9MFB09QEa4JY2kzCwF0Y&h=AT3DEmh5VZh_V4EVvrQJ6Eb_Y_PBXuvkfm_Y75brzgDm_TktP_oFHddAERVtHTcbVyM8G5cUo0TLtCB2DTH33R5osx3Ohj_XJXk0_Z5ssn_2hy8IhK1Mn42FLzK268CinY3G&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5B0%5D=AT0QBn52XUrkhgfgH9AOzkY7gQWjnzbneIo4QkIuQsNtGcL86Hrv_hi7RbJOarbFXpjJh2QVVpMcJK_GSLLUdKWVHi02lQftGwCgV3NrXTt76mZSU1KVrhnGXOOdZ2sa8t1SOAlW5Ey_WkBkkAM6Dr2nLqRUJqV2OaTpUyhZJh1BVbk5f_VS1dPpXuZveUixC93hJoTUKlP2S7xvmdCxgXusKOl17semUJAJ2bgvtesb
Stride is the awful K12 Inc, which makes big profits and produces awful results. It’s executives are paid millions.
During the pandemic many students stayed home and received virtual instruction either through their public school or on-line charter school. Last year’s NAEP scores declined so the mainstream press is making a big deal about it. Declining scores were expected due to all the disruption, grieving students and failing virtual instruction. The public should not be concerned about scores including NAEP scores. What matters more is that students are of sound mental health, and they are returning to in-person education which is built on relationships and social interaction. Teachers know what to do, and they will help students return to a healthy learning environment.
Our preoccupation with data and scores is unhealthy for our young people. In the real world scores are not the goal. We should be supporting comprehensive education offered from trained and caring professional teachers. In the real world attendance matters, graduation and meaningful post high school plans, not scores on tests. Researchers have found that too much time spent on digital devices leads to depression and anxiety in teenagers, and we still do not know long-term impact developing eyes and brains in younger children. Therefore, computer access should be determined by professional teachers that know how and when it is beneficial relevant to instruction. Total virtual instruction is educationally unsound, inadequate and even dangerous to the well-being of our youth.
“In the real world scores are not the goal.”
You’ve hit on one of my (many?) pet peeves in the language we use to discuss the teaching and learning process. And no, I’m not talking about “scores” which indeed in the business sector dominate.
Notice I didn’t say “real world”. . . the point of my post. Schooling is no less “real” than the business sector, family life, love life, etc. . . . The term suggests that the teaching and learning process is somehow less substantial, less legitimate, less authentic than those other areas of life.
Well, it’s not!
The teaching and learning processes that make up formal schooling are VERY REAL with, many times, life altering consequences both good and bad. Tell any K-12 student, or even college students that their being-meaning sense of aliveness is not real. Seems to me the response from them would be: REALLY?!
My point is what matters is what students do with their education and lives, not the scores on standardized tests. Education is very important, but, as we have seen, it cannot cure all of society’s issues.
And my point is that the language we use in discussing the teaching and learning process needs to not reinforce stupid thoughts such as “real world.”
Everything in this article is still based on the big test. It will be difficult, but we must step away from the test even when the scores are favorable. Education may no longer be a race to be won or loss with kids to be labeled smart or stupid. We must put all kids on their pathway to success.
We know only public schools have the teachers who can provide a quality education for all. The only way we can show this is to get the test off the backs of students and teach them to think while it’s still legal.
We will be accused of changing systems to avoid the competition of the test scores. We must be tough and make the move anyway. We can’t give a rats backside what they think. I will take guts, but must succeed, for the sake of the kids.
I think one reason parents send their kids to failing charters is because they so want to believe the hype. Their mentality is similar to a poor person who spends much needed money on lottery tickets. They think they’ll (and their children) be the impossible winners.
I agree with you to a certain extent, but I don’t think poor/lower income parents look to Charters as a way for their children to become “winners” in the education game. I think parents want their children to go to a clean, safe, uncrowded school with working plumbing, heat & AC, current textbooks and technology. I don’t think they realize the “price” that they and their children pay for that and I don’t think they realize that the education isn’t so great. You can’t blame parents for wanting decent conditions for their children.
I get your point and accept your point of view. But for argument’s sake only, let’s take it to the extreme. If one had a choice between poor facilities and a pretty sure shot at a great education or great facilities with poor teaching, I think most would choose the former. I understand what you’re saying about safety, but that is highly variable according to geography.
I know of an example of this. For decades prior to Katrina, Ben Franklin High School in New Orleans was known for two things: the best possible education in town and archaic facilities. The students wore their conditions as a quirky badge of honor. They had unbelievably committed teachers and a nurturing administration; an oasis in the New Orleans schools. It was (and is) highly selective, geared to gifted kids. Today it is a charter affiliated with the University of New Orleans on the lakefront.
Great point. Parents fall for charter lies the same way they buy lottery tickets.
Charter schools excel at marketing. They can entice parents and students to buy their snake oil. Some discerning parents end up sending their child back to the public schools when they realize the experience did not align with the hype.