Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education

by Chester E. Finn Jr., Bruno V. Manno, Gregg Vanourek

Can charter schools save public education? This radical question has unleashed a flood of opinions from Americans struggling with the contentious challenges of education reform. There has been plenty of heat over charter schools and their implications, but, until now, not much light. This important new book supplies plenty of illumination. Charter schools--independently operated public schools of choice--have existed in the United States only since 1992, yet there are already over 1,500 of them. How are they doing? Here prominent education analysts Chester Finn, Bruno Manno, and Gregg Vanourek offer the richest data available on the successes and failures of this exciting but controversial approach to education reform. After studying one hundred schools, interviewing hundreds of participants, surveying thousands more, and analyzing the most current data, they have compiled today's most authoritative, comprehensive explanation and appraisal of the charter phenomenon. Fact-filled, clear-eyed, and hard-hitting, this is the book for anyone concerned about public education and interested in the role of charter schools in its renewal. Can charter schools boost student achievement, drive educational innovation, and develop a new model of accountability for public schools? Where did the idea of charter schools come from? What would the future hold if this phenomenon spreads? These are some of the questions that this book answers. It addresses pupil performance, enrollment patterns, school start-up problems, charges of inequity, and smoldering political battles. It features close-up looks at five real--and very different--charter schools and two school districts that have been deeply affected by the charter movement, including their setbacks and triumphs. After outlining a new model of education accountability and describing how charter schools often lead to community renewal, the authors take the reader on an imaginary tour of a charter-based school system.

Genres: Education

288 pages, Unbound

First published February 14, 2000

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not the book for me. It is a very biased against teacher's unions and government, and very pro-market solutions (applauding Milton Friedman). I want an account that gives both sides. This book cherry picks data that supports charters and doesn't show any of the negative studies (there are lots). It uses emotionally charged language (when speaking of programs for kids with special needs, it talked about "government-imposed" services, and "cumbersome" programs). Instead of data, the authors use words like "similar to" and "about the same" when in fact differences may be statistically significant. It uses anecdotes in place of data - touchy-feely stories of charter school founders and students.

I'd like to respond to the four ways the authors propose charter schools are able to "do more with less" on page 95:

1) "First, they are better than most district schools at using parental 'sweat equity' and leveraging other non-monetary resources to supplement their budgets. Many parents are happy to lend a hand, and many charter starters take an entrepreneurial view toward community partnerships and fundraising."

To this, I say, why not take that entrepreneurial spirit and those parent volunteers and direct that energy towards your local community school?

2) "Second, many charter schools pare their administrative personnel to a bare minimum. Often they accomplish this by having teachers perform 'double duty' - perhaps serving as a coach as well as an English teacher, or counselor as well as a math teacher. Sometimes board members shoulder administrative functions."

Well, this is simply not true. According to reliable and rigorous studies, charter schools actually spend 2-5x as much on administration than do their traditional school counterparts because they can't take advantage of economies of scale. And relying on teachers to shoulder more than their fair share of work is asking for burnout and attrition, which is in fact what happens in charter schools.

3) "Third, charter schools tend to eschew the extras that regular schools normally offer. Many get by without non-academic programs like sports and drama. (Parents looking for lots of alternatives and amenities for their children will, in general, be better off turning elsewhere."

Isn't this, in fact, doing less with less? Traditional public schools are expected to be all things to all people. They must provide transportation, lunches, special education services, social workers, psychologists, and a well-rounded education. Charter schools don't really have to do any of these things. I would also like to point out from personal experience that charter schools sometimes don't even provide textbooks or school supplies and that's how they save money. Just sayin'.

4) "Fourth, many charter schools 'outsource' some of the schools functions to external providers. According to the federal study, 41 percent of charter schools contract out for payroll, 48 percent for insurance, 50 percent for legal services, and 41 percent for social services."

I think it goes hand-in-hand that charter schools spend 2-5x as much on administrative costs and they outsource to for-profit companies for services.

[Sean]

holy shit this is frustrating too! why am i only reading books that make me grimace and put down said book to rub my temples in anguish? i talked to ryan about this book while sitting at a bar in a casino hotel in waterloo iowa and he was able to sum up the pro-big-business/slyly-but-rabidly-anti-union perspective of the authors after i said maybe two words on their dastardly obfuscations.

[LNae · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was written in 1999 (using data from 97/98) so it is dated; it is so dated that I couldn't read the chapter on "magical" education found in New Pennsylvania in the year 2010. The big thing I got out of it was that location matters when it comes to schools which is not new information. It was an ok read about the beginning of the charter movement.