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NationofChange / Op-Ed
Published: Monday 24 September 2012
“It’s frightening to think of a private educational system in which 1 out of 6 children have to settle for an inferior education.”
Now We Know Our ABCs, and Charter Schools Get an F
The Chicago teacher strike is over, but the assault on our nation's children has just begun. As with all free market systems, the price is set high enough to ensure a profit for the companies doing business, even though not everyone will be able to afford their product.
With our private health care system, 1 out of 6 Americans are uninsured. It's frightening to think of a private educational system in which 1 out of 6 children have to settle for an inferior education.
We've learned a lot in recent years from the struggles within our schools. Here are three sensible considerations for anyone involved in the education of our children.
A. Assessment of Teachers? Before Hiring, Not After.
It's nearly impossible to judge the long-term effectiveness of any one teacher, given the incalculable variables of student demographics and school funding. And independent-thinking Americans are reluctant to look beyond their own country's borders for solutions.
But perhaps we should try. Finland's schools were considered mediocre 30 years ago, but they've achieved a remarkable turnaround by essentially challenging their teachers before they're entrusted with the welfare of the children. Teachers undergo rigorous masters-level training to ensure proficiency in the teaching profession, which is held in the same high esteem as law and medicine. In keeping with this respect for learning, government funding is applied equally to all schools, classes in the arts are available to all students, and tuition is free.
The results? Finnish students, who are not subjected to the travesty of standardized testing, finish at or near the top of international comparisons for reading, math, and science.
It's not just Finland with such impressive results. Research at the National Center on Education and the Economy has confirmed that educational systems in Japan, Shanghai, and Ontario, Canada have prospered with an emphasis on the preparation of teachers for the essential task of instructing their young people.
Privatizers might argue that unions will eventually corrupt the highly qualified teachers. But they would be wrong. Almost all Finnish teachers are unionized. In the highly unionized U.S. public education system, according to a recent OECD report, teachers put in more hours and receive less pay than in almost all other developed countries.
The problem in the U.S., then, is not the teachers, but a lack of respect for our children's futures. The child poverty rate in Finland is about 5 percent. In the U.S. it's an astounding 23 percent. It's hard to concentrate on school when you're hungry.
B. Budget Cuts? No, Let the Tax Avoiders Pay Up.
Not many upper-income parents would allow their children to attend a school without a library, but that's the case for 160 Chicago public elementary schools.
Not many would accept the claim by Milwaukee's charter school advocates that playgrounds "significantly limit parent's educational choice in Milwaukee."
Nor would they tolerate a school system with one counselor for every 800 students, as in California.
Or a school without a full-time arts or music teacher, especially after a College Entrance Examination Board study found that students participating in public school music programs scored an average of 107 points higher on the SAT. But 42% of Chicago's schools are not funded for a full-time arts or music teacher.
In 1954 Chief Justice Earl Warren summarized the important Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education: "Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments...Such an opportunity...is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms."
Instead we get cutbacks. States reduced their education budgets by $12.7 billion in 2012, and in 2013 the majority of states will be spending even less. Nearly 300,000 positions have been eliminated in the education sector since 2008. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently announced reduced funding for disadvantaged public schools and early-childhood education.
In order to avoid the cutbacks, we need to go directly to the source of the revenue problem. Wealthy individuals and corporations aren't paying their taxes. The $250 billion avoided each year by corporations (as their tax rates plummeted from 22.5% to 10%) could pay for five million highly educated new teachers. The $450 billion avoided annually by the richest 10% could pay for almost ten million teachers.
C. Charter Schools? They Flunk.
Milton Friedman's 1955 article, "The Role of Government in Education," argued for a voucher system that would allow parents to purchase the school of their choice for their children. Just as Friedman's supply-side free-market beliefs have been proven wrong, so also the notion of privatizing education is doomed to failure.
The evidence against charter schools is overwhelming. Their relative ineffectiveness is documented by studies from Stanford University, the Department of Education, Johns Hopkins University, and the RAND Corporation.
In addition to their poor performance, charters are more segregated, less likely to accept students with disabilities, and conducive to a widening of the racial and rich-poor education gaps.
Also, charter school teachers have less experience, and their turnover rate is higher.
Yet the media-supported myth of school privatization persists. Charters sustain this myth, according to noted education scholar Diane Ravitch, by "skimming off" the most motivated students from disadvantaged neighborhoods. They claim to select students randomly. But a study of the highly regarded KIPP Charter School chain shows a pattern of "selective attrition" in which underperforming students are "counseled out." About half of Kipp's students leave between the 5th and 8th grades.
Charters can pull off their charade of success, because the privatization myth keeps disillusioned parents waiting at their front doors. There are currently about two million students in 5,600 charter schools throughout the U.S., with 600,000 children on the waiting lists.
In the end, perhaps the strongest argument against charter schools is that they've never been scaled up to a level that accommodates the majority of students. The profit motive wouldn't allow such equality of opportunity without drastic cutbacks in teacher salaries and student support costs. After all, the people at the top need to grab their salaries first.
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ABOUT Paul Buchheit
Paul Buchheit is a college teacher with formal training in language development and cognitive science. He is the founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, RappingHistory.org, PayUpNow.org), and the editor and main author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (Clarity Press). He can be reached at paul@UsAgainstGreed.org.
9 comments on "Now We Know Our ABCs, and Charter Schools Get an F"
September 27, 2012 9:14am
I have many reservations about charter schools, but my main reservation is philosophical. As I see it, taxes are monies collected by the government to be used for the common good (Yes, I know this is often not the case, but I'm being idealistic). Once you pay those taxes, the money ceases to be yours to direct. Instead the government is charged with directing the money for the good of the order. Allowing parents to redirect tax money to the charter school of their choice goes against this directive that taxes are for the good of all. It is allowing taxpayers to micromanage the use of their taxes, which simply is not feasible. For example, I am a devout pacifist who does not believe in war other than when under direct attack. Should I be allowed to redirect the portion of my taxes that goes to the military to, say, Amnesty International? I wish I could, but I know this is impossible/impractical & goes against the philosophy of taxation. Public schools are not perfect, but their purpose is the common good & as such we must concentrate on ways to help them improve. Siphoning off funds will not accomplish this.
September 26, 2012 12:30pm
OK, devoted liberal Nation of Change reader here. But this article stinks of the same kind of distorted one-sided smeers used by Republicans. It sickens me that in order to side with those needed to defeat the Repubs that we have to swallow this NEA propaganda. I am a public school teacher and many of my family are in education in both the public and private sides.
Facts are that there are many charter schools and public-private partnerships that have shown amazing results in areas where more money has been thrown at public schools that are miserable failures. The methodologies to do the right thing are now well-investigated and supported by overwhelming evidence and they all involve being able to weed out bad teachers and devolve to more school based control vs centralized control. None of this is mentioned in the article. Please go watch "Waiting for Superman" for just one example of what I'm discussing.
Teacher unions are a BIG part of the problem - perhaps the biggest at this point in US history. I don't want them destroyed but they must be reformed. Yes, Finland has teacher unions too as the article points out. But the article doesn't bother to mention the differences in the Finish process required to train and evaluate teachers early on (when it's easiest to fix or eliminate bad ones) or the relative ease (compared to US) of being able to fire poor teachers. Furthermore, Finland is not easy to use to draw comparisons as its culture is far more homogeneous, its population far smaller (hence decentralization is less relevant), and there are many social safeguards the US does not have. We have to look to methods that work particularly with poverty-prone areas.
As a teacher I know that most teachers are quite capable and motivated. It's the listless bottom 10% and the rotten bottom 5% that make me and our children miserable and I'm tired of seeing them shuffled around or warehoused at public expense rather than re-trained (inefficient) or fired.
If we let the liberals of this country become wedded to the distortions of the NEA then we are no better than the mendacious conservatives and we will lose the momentum we are building. Let's put striving towards the WHOLE truth first. Let that be the liberal mantra. Then we will win in the long run, not just for ourselves, but for our Country.
September 25, 2012 12:02pm
Not all charter schools are profit driven. We helped create a charter here in Portland (the Trillium Charter School) where the selection is 100% by lottery, where we sited the school intentionally in a racially diverse and low-income neighborhood to minimize transportation and logistical barriers to attendance, and where the governance is by a non-profit corporation with strong guidelines on using funds only for the benefit of the school. It's been a great success, with over 90% of kids going to college, including a lot of kids who were flunking out of traditional school settings.
I am totally against for-profit institutions taking over our educational process, because of course, they'll make sure that they make money regardless of the costs to the kids and the community. But to pretend that our current system isn't inherently racist and biased toward the rich is ridiculous. It is possible to set up systems where parents have real choice and where selection biases are minimized. Rather than fighting the 'school choice' movement, I think progressives (like me) need to start figuring out how to create school choice options that actually benefit kids, because let's be honest, the current public education system is not serving our kids well, and the poorer you are, the worse it serves.
I do agree, though, that teacher preparation and support is the most important thing. I got a Masters in Education, and I can tell you, it wasn't very challenging and did NOT prepare me for a real classroom. More on-the-job training would have been great!
September 24, 2012 9:07pm
Paul Buchheit might be interested in the story headline in the October 12, 2011 Greenfield (MA) Recorder which said: "MCAS testing results have placed the Four Rivers Charter Public School among the best in the state. "
The story goes on to report that "Results from the spring 2011 standardized tests set a record for the school, with the 10th-grade class boasting a 100 percent proficiency rating for both English and biology and a 98.5 percent
proficiency in math.
"The state average stands at 84 percent for English, 74 percent for math and 67 percent for biology.
" 'These results put us at the top of the state, which we are very proud of," said Principal Peter Garbus. Results for grades 7 and 8 hover around the state average. Scores are typically lower at the middle school level than at the high school level,' said Garbus.
"The school average stands at 86 percent of students proficient or higher in English and 59 percent for math. Garbus believes the trend of scores increasing through the grades is evidence of the students' accomplishments and the school's teaching methods.
" 'We are not a test-driven school,' said Garbus, 'yet these results affirm an approach to teaching and learning that builds strong fundamental skills while teaching students to use their minds well.'
"Garbus said this approach is 'project-based learning,' which requires students to call upon their own knowledge to help them solve complex open-ended problems.
" 'It appears that those fundamental skills are developing in strong ways even while our main focus is not the test,' said Garbus. 'Our main objective is to teach the 21st-century skills of communication, problem solving, creative thinking and collaboration, none of which are tested by the MCAS.' "
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As for student demographics, we have 2 African-American, 4 Asian, 11 Hispanic, 1 Native American, 1 Pacific Islander and 187 White students (89%of the entire enrollment). Subgroup information includes 47 low income and 36 special education students.
I can't speak for other charter schools but the non-profit Four Rivers Charter School in Greenfield, MA does not fall with in Mr. Buchheit's "overwhelming evidence" that proclaims charter schools as poor performing schools.
September 24, 2012 5:30pm
Charter schools are subsidized profit for investors. They suck money from the public schools thereby depriving the schools of dollars that are much needed to keep the classrooms updated. The also drain the public schools of the best students. If a student is a problem, he/she won't be tolerated very long in a charter. Now, we are giving tax breaks for vouchers to people who want their kids to attend religious schools. This is wrong. If you want a child to go to a private school of your choice, pay for it. Don't put the burden on the taxpayers.
September 24, 2012 4:56pm
It really is all about priorities. The Finns would rather build classrooms, libraries and stock them fully. The US would rather build bombs and other weapons of destruction. Finns - education is free, US - have to pay either directly (tuition) or indirectly (fees, fundraisers, donations). There is too much money to be made in for-profit education.
There is a similar story for health care. The civilized world believes that everyone should get basic care. The US believes that only those with money should get care. Why cure illness and prevent disease when there are massive profits to be made.
Let's also discuss the private prison system. Get tougher on crime the masses yell. Law makers pass long prison sentences for minor crimes. Why? To make a profit. Encourage companies to not hire those who have been arrested so they become repeat offenders. Keep that revolving door spinning.
All that matters is rumps in seats/beds/cells. Nobody talks about the fact that if we improve education we improve overall health and lower crime. This is further improved if there are jobs for people.
Sure there are the lazy bums that only want a goobermint check, but Corporate Govmint Teetsucker, Ghetto Queen, and Trailor Trash are in the minority of the 47% not paying taxes. The overwhelming majority bust their rumps every day. Granny and Gramps earned what they get and so do our Veterans. The disabled would give anything to hold a job and earn their way. They did not ask to be disabled.
The US is an anti-Christian (opposite of Christ) nation and our spending priorities, policies, and actions prove it every single day.
September 24, 2012 12:00pm
I cannot speak for charter schools in general, but I can speak for one in my home area. The public schools near me produce some of the highest scores on standardized graduation tests in the state (mind, high test scores do not equal education). When a charter school for high-achieving students focusing on science and technology was started some years ago, there was a significant outcry in the area questioning a need for it. "Who needs to study computers and robotics?", said one newspaper op-ed piece.
The first graduates of that charter school are now graduating from (and entering) college at a higher rate than local schools in general and the state overall. They have an education in useful skills, not rote memorization of material likely to appear on tests. In a time of national double digit employment....they are getting jobs.
I do not know if this is typical, but here is one charter school that most definitely works.
As an aside, for an interesting look at public education c. mid-1960s, see Ayn Rand's essay "The Comprachicos". Very thought-provoking.
September 24, 2012 10:39am
at least charter schools are accredited unlike the public schools here no hunger while school is in session 3 meals provided Just as Friedman's supply-side free-market beliefs have been proven wrong, so also the notion of privatizing education is doomed to failure. only in your dreams
September 24, 2012 10:29am
Let's connect some dots, shall we?
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"With our private health care system, 1 out of 6 Americans are uninsured. It's frightening to think of a private educational system in which 1 out of 6 children have to settle for an inferior education.
"The child poverty rate in Finland is about 5 percent. In the U.S. it's an astounding 23 percent. It's hard to concentrate on school when you're hungry.
"Just as Friedman's supply-side free-market beliefs have been proven wrong, so also the notion of privatizing education is doomed to failure. "
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Actually, thanks to the failed USAmerican experiment with for-profit corporate sick care, the MAJORITY of USAmericans either have NO "health" insurance or have 2nd class insurance which, if used for a major illness or injury, would result in bankruptcy. In addition, the entire USAmerican system of centralized, specialized sick care for profits means that most people have to travel relatively large distances to access ANY health care at all.
It's winner-take-all capitalism that is the ROOT CAUSE! Thus the high-stakes "testing" and privatized schools for the most well conditioned future worker units and making sure that teachers teach the "skills" that match up to the destructive Ponzi-Scheme "economy" that has CAUSED USAmericans to be a sick and poor population in a 3rd world country.
The third paragraph above, a symptom of the sickness in USAmerica that began in the early 70s when the .1% began fighting back against Community in favor of their personal interests with every tool and dollar they could muster.
Follow the goddam money, folks!