Charter Storm: Waves of Change Sweeping Over Public Education

by Mary Searcy Bixby, Tom R. Davis

Public education in the United States faces an unprecedented crisis. The explosive growth of charter schools over the last two decades has shaken the status quo to its core. At stake are the future of public schools and how they will continue to educate our nation’s youth.
Clashes over money and ideologies have led to a struggle between the public education establishment and those at the forefront of educational reform. The conflict is being waged in the court of public opinion, as well as in courtrooms throughout the country. While the outcome is impossible to predict, both sides are preparing for a fight of David versus Goliath proportions. Collaboration is critical to the success of both. 
Educational experts Dr. Tom R. Davis and Mary Searcy Bixby have spent their entire careers improving public education—Mary in charter schools and Tom in traditional public education. In Charter Storm, they use their combined knowledge and research of over 120 individual interviews over five years to teach you about—
• essential insights those new to the charter school movement need for their schools to survive and thrive
• how aggressive educational establishment pushback threatens to sweep away the most vulnerable
• key issues authorizers must know to effectively oversee their organizations
• the overwhelming challenges the educational establishment faces today and how it can effectively navigate the changing local and national educational landscape
• why active participation and support of charter school associations are essential to each charter school and the educational reform movement’s long-term success
• what every charter school parent needs to know to create and support an exceptional educational experience for his or her children 

Genres: Nonfiction, Ebooks, Education

242 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 18, 2018

Reviews

[Selena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free e-copy of Charter Storm: Waves of Change Sweeping Over Public Education from Goodreads for my honest review.

I enjoyed an learned a lot about Charter schools and the research that was put into this book regarding to Charter Schools was fantastic but I felt it was very one sided. This book was geared towards supporting the Charter schools.

[Danny Brzozowski · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a very biased book, adding nothing new to the school choice debate. Bixby paints public education as a bully overwhelming charter school underdogs. However, Charter Storm is one sided and perpetuates outdated stereotypes about public education based on misinformation and ignoring decades of positive change. Bixby relies on misrepresented statistics, hyperbole, and hysteria to advance an agenda that serves few students and abandons the most in need despite abundant funding. She ignores and even denies the valuable and progressive work public schools do to meet the needs of all students, personalize education, build students' 21st century skills, and provide myriad social services beyond simply classroom instruction, all without multi-million dollar grants from private foundations. And she denies the existence in public schools of the very reforms that she uses to support her case for charter schools, reforms which were developed by and continue to be implemented in public schools.

[Amanda Z · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this eBook as a Goodreads Giveaway, which biases me to be a bit nicer than I otherwise would, but frankly, I didn't like this book.

In the introduction, the authors admit that they have a strong positive bias toward charter schools, but damn, they could have been super biased and still written a much better and more rigorous book. Instead the book feels like I'm reading a low-content propaganda stump speech. Charter school founders (especially "the originals") are cast as "bold" and "brave heroes" by bringing "market-driven principles" to "disrupt" the "educational establishment" by having the freedom to innovate. The "establishment" pushes back because of funding losses. Barf. Another reviewer rips on the "David and Goliath" analogy that takes up a full chapter, so I won't waste my time with on it, but it was completely inappropriate and offensive.

While I'm a product of traditional K-12 public schooling, my brother-in-law teaches at a charter school. I don't know a lot about them, but my mind was open enough reading this book.

The biggest fault of the book is that it is lacking in sufficient detail to expand on the claims made. I I would have liked to see specific stories from specific schools (the authors claim in the introduction that they traveled all over the US interviewing people involved with charter schools!). Instead, this book is an example of glittering generalities run amok. The book repeatedly lauds the idea of online classrooms, but spends no time examining why they might be better than sitting in a chair in an actual school. They name drop people involved with movement, but move on after barely doing more than reciting a résumé.

About 20% in, there's an actual, concrete example of how the lack of regulations can help charter schools get something done fast: a principal goes up to the contractors outside the window and asks if they can smooth out some dirt for the playground. The principal had no idea this wasn't a half-hour job, but rather a weeks-long one that involved a massive amount of donated labor on the part of the contractor. Because there was no oversight whatsoever on the process, the work got done, which the authors laud. On the other hand, there's a reason people should get paid for their labor, and high ticket items have a bidding process. These kind of examples would have made a better book, but they are few and far between.

Another time, the authors complain that districts are forcing schools to do things that charter schools just don't have the resources for, like dealing with bullying, mental health issues and accommodating trans students. The authors acknowledge these are "valuable things", but think charter schools should be exempt (wtf!) because they have too much to do already, and regulations are Evil. Evil regulations also include the ones that are in place to prevent corruption.

If I had a dime for every time the authors poo-pooed school districts for being bothered that charter school students removed their funding, I could fund my own damn school and maybe pay the people I bully into building my playground. And yet, rather hypocritically, the authors lament the problem of "saturation", where some charter schools are not enrolling enough students to pay their bills. The authors also go on about how school districts directly elected by voter stifle independence, but large charter management organizations produce the best run schools.

At one point, there is a chart defining what "disruption" looks like that is not based on statistics, but how the authors feel disruption works. Um, okay. The chart is presented as a 2d graph, but is actually just a tilted number line.

The book barely mentions private education, and ignores magnet schools or vocational schools, pre-charter school versions of alternative education.

All in all, if you are looking to understand the history of the charter school movement or understand their roles in society, this book isn't it.

[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free kindle copy through Goodreads.

There wasn't much here that was new. Basically "chartered schools are here, and some students from public schools are going there"
I found it to be very repetitive. More than once I stopped and thought "have I skipped back a few pages? Nope, she's just re-stating the same point again with almost the exact same words.
The David and Goliath analogy was stretched beyond the breaking point... and then belabored even further. The way the analogy is used, didn't even fit. David did not defeat Goliath because he was "Smaller and nimble" he prevailed because he trusted in his God to help him. But that didn't fit with the narrative that was presented, so it got ignored.
I'm not sure who the target audience for this would be. Parents? Chartered school Teachers / Admins? Public school admins? It didn't really seem to be telling any of those groups anything that would be useful.

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been many concerns raised about education, on quality, structure, funding and the battle between private and public education. I wanted to read this book because I was interested in learning about charter schools and the status of education reforms in America.
This book gives an insight into various communities and the challenges they face. See, unlike my country-Kenya, America has different laws for each state and what's key about all the states is that under the constitution, education is a right and as such there's a lot to be said on public education.
Anyone interested in charter schools, public education and whether the reforms are disrupting the current public education system in America would enjoy this book! Thank you NetGalley for the eARC, a well researched work right here!

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book from Goodreads Giveaways.

I was really excited about the idea of this book, since my son just started kindergarten in a traditional public school and I'm really immersing myself in the ins-and-outs of education policy as a result. I was looking forward to an examination of what charter schools do well, what they could do better, and what the future likely holds for them. Instead I got this book, which is short on documentation, long on proclamations and beats the "David vs Goliath" metaphor into the ground. I don't feel like I know anything more about charter school systems than I did when I started, aside from the fact that the people who are apparently really big into the running of California's charter school system are insufferably self-congratulatory. Do yourself a favor and keep looking.

[Friscomama · Rating 3 out of 5]

To get an idea of the writing style, check the notes and highlights.

I tried to get through the book so I could make an informed review of it, but did not succeed. On the other hand, I was interested in figuring out how they made it so hard to read. It looks to me like black hat editors had their way with it. Most editors will try to increase readability. Black hat editors serve their masters to make EULAs (end user license agreements), insurance contracts, and laws as difficult to read as they can.

I was impressed with the lack of any real information, the amazing wordiness, the overload of metaphors and similes, the repetitions of the same words in long sentences and paragraphs portraying all public schools without charters as " . . .lost in the muck and mire of huge bureaucracy, one so bloated and entrenched that any activity oriented to making even a minor change is akin to turning a massive ship." Charter schools were portrayed as innovative, agile and flexible, fiscally accountable, etc.

I had read Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform by Steven Singer, also a giveaway, in March, and thought Charter Storm would give me another viewpoint to sort things out. Neither book was a joy to read, each supported their opposite side of the issues, and each has references for their information at the back of the book. Gadfly on the Wall was, however, readable.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won an advanced copy of this book on Goodreads. I agree with the premise of this book and what the author's are trying to accomplish. Public schools have been in full deterioration since the Dept. of Education took control. Testing results have been in constant decline since. Although chartered schools is another form of public schools and not private schools, this type of schooling gives students and families other options and a sense of hope. Too often the bureaucracy gets in the way of education, it really slows the process down which harms the children's future. Many teachers now are subjecting their students to their own ideology and agenda instead of teaching children how to think critically and analyze properly keeping the students ignorant of the realities out there and brain-washing them into full submission. At least chartered schools will give these kids a chance to understand and learn about what they should be learning, not promoting "soft" subjects, political correctness and pushing their own warped views on them.

[Timothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this e-book from Goodreads Giveaways.

I looked into enrolling my kids in a charter school for the upcoming year, and I thought it would be a good idea to educate myself more about the pros and cons of such schools and the reasons why they're controversial. Unfortunately, this book is not a good source of information. There's hardly any data, a little bit of insider-oriented content on best practices, and a lot of repetitive preaching to the choir. We are informed that charter schools are effective because they have the freedom to innovate and change while traditional public schools don't; in the next breath, we are told that if traditional public schools don't want to keep losing students to charter schools, they should innovate and change. There is plenty of propagandizing and very little grasp of reality.

I felt an obligation to finish this book so I could change my one-star review if it got better. It didn't.

[Cat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yes, nothing new here. I have worked with both the public, private, parochial, and charter schools, unschooled and homeschooled, and even online schools through work. I'm not particularly a fan of any. As a product of public school, I always knew the day would come when their attitudes doomed them. But I've watched the charter schools come and go and teachers and students ripped off by those in charge. Private and parochial schools seem to work the best, but they can be very expensive. Homeschooled and unschooled work well when parents are truly engaged with their children and actively work with them (I haven't seen many good examples, sadly...). I was disappointed with this book. it could have been much better. Sorry.

[Kelly Knapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I didn't find any "Breaking News" on Public Education reform in this book; it is an excellent overview of how and why Charter Schools have become so prevalent in our society. As many believe their is a non stoppable decline in public education, they have gone around the issue and created a new concept in Education.


I found many of the tropes to be almost juvenile, such as describing the issues raised by a two party educational system as a conflict the size of David and Goliath. However, we need not see it as a conflict but as a simple alternative.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Storm" in the title makes one thinks could be coloring the charter school movement as a destructive event. Possibly, this is partly true as the author details the "pushback" from traditional school systems and the disruptive effect these institutions can be seen to have at some times in over a decade of existence. Still, Bixby is an overt supporter of the movement and calls out plans and approaches for those wanting charter schools to succeed. There is also much history of the movement drawn from an apparent national tour of various institutions.

[Laurie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I barely got through the introduction before I decided to put down this poorly written and horribly biased view of charter schools. Alluding to biblical tales of David and Goliath this one-sided farce is basically just a bad piece of propaganda for the charter school movement. Bashing public schools as the 'bully', it was repetitive and highly prejudiced. Don’t waste your time on this book

[Kerrie Hatcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book on a Goodreads give away.
I'm glad I read this book since I know more about public education than about chartered schools. This book discussed the myths associated with and the pushback against chartered schools and then offered solutions. I learned about the financing of chartered schools, who oversees them, what students are admitted and a host of other things.

[Melinda M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charter Storm: Waves of Change Sweeping Over Public Education by Mary Searcy Bixby is an interesting discuss of Charter schools and the problems that exist with Public education.



I received a copy thru a Goodreads contest.

[Melissa T · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book on good reads first reads. I felt this book was extremely biased and one sided.

I will attempt to read it again.

[Debbie Ballard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informational and well-written about charter school education. The book gave a different viewpoint to public education that was an interesting read.

[Friscomama · Rating 3 out of 5]

To get an idea of the writing style, check the notes and highlights.

I tried to get through the book so I could make an informed review of it, but did not succeed. On the other hand, I was interested in figuring out how they made it so hard to read. It looks to me like black hat editors had their way with it. Most editors will try to increase readability. Black hat editors serve their masters to make EULAs (end user license agreements), insurance contracts, and laws as difficult to read as they can.

I was impressed with the lack of any real information, the amazing wordiness, the overload of metaphors and similes, the repetitions of the same words in long sentences and paragraphs portraying all public schools without charters as ” . . .lost in the muck and mire of huge bureaucracy, one so bloated and entrenched that any activity oriented to making even a minor change is akin to turning a massive ship.” Charter schools were portrayed as innovative, agile and flexible, fiscally accountable, etc.

I had read Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform by Steven Singer, also a giveaway, in March, and thought Charter Storm would give me another viewpoint to sort things out. Neither book was a joy to read, each supported their opposite side of the issues, and each has references for their information at the back of the book. Gadfly on the Wall was, however, readable.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this ebook as a Goodreads giveaway. I am a teacher at a public high school in Florida and I thought it would be interesting to read a book on charter schools. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get into it. I hope that other people enjoy it more than I did.

Update: I now teach at a charter school and I'm able look at this subject in a whole new light. It's so important for families to have quality options for their children's education. Be sure to explore all options!