Comments on: Multiple Choice: A High Stakes Study Of Charter School Performance http://www.edwize.org/multiple-choice-a-high-stakes-study-of-charter-school-performance Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:48:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Shawlatan http://www.edwize.org/multiple-choice-a-high-stakes-study-of-charter-school-performance/comment-page-1#comment-66537 Shawlatan Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:03:42 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=4689#comment-66537 The study is meaningless when it comes to allowing children to self-actualize and become good world citizens. It is meaningless because it tests students the way traditional schools do. Traditional school's test results show how well kids take tests and how well they regurgitate what they have swallowed whole by rote. Tests don't measure understanding; that is, how well a kid has mastered a subject (of her choosing). Also, most charter schools deviate little from the traditional school model. They are different in degree but not in kind. Education must be changed fundementally for there to be thinking, questioning, self-motivated, humans who will better understand themselves and the world around them. I recommend that Summerhill, Sudbury Valley, and Albany Free School models be emulated around the world. Because traditional schools (and most charter schools) are as Howard Zinn said, totalitarian. I say school is not free inquiry; it is indoctrination. Schools today quell curiosity, and build good little followers and suck ups and bad critical thinkers. Wake up teachers, and get a voice. Read John Taylor Gatto's, The Underground History of American Education. The study is meaningless when it comes to allowing children to self-actualize and become good world citizens. It is meaningless because it tests students the way traditional schools do. Traditional school’s test results show how well kids take tests and how well they regurgitate what they have swallowed whole by rote. Tests don’t measure understanding; that is, how well a kid has mastered a subject (of her choosing).
Also, most charter schools deviate little from the traditional school model. They are different in degree but not in kind.
Education must be changed fundementally for there to be thinking, questioning, self-motivated, humans who will better understand themselves and the world around them.
I recommend that Summerhill, Sudbury Valley, and Albany Free School models be emulated around the world. Because traditional schools (and most charter schools) are as Howard Zinn said, totalitarian. I say school is not free inquiry; it is indoctrination. Schools today quell curiosity, and build good little followers and suck ups and bad critical thinkers.
Wake up teachers, and get a voice. Read John Taylor Gatto’s, The Underground History of American Education.

]]> By: Shabad Siu http://www.edwize.org/multiple-choice-a-high-stakes-study-of-charter-school-performance/comment-page-1#comment-66534 Shabad Siu Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:59:18 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=4689#comment-66534 Shabad Siu Edu-Blog Entry Funding for charter schools versus traditional schools has always been a hot topic. As a first year teacher teaching in a traditional school setting I have heard a lot of negative arguments against funding for charter schools. Going straight from college to a traditional school I did not get a chance to explore charter schools. I always wondered why there was a lot of buzz about charter school. When I went on interviews the majority of the recruiters were from charter schools and they displayed their schools to be a glorious place. I have realized otherwise after completing my first year as a teacher. According to Mandate for Change, Charter schools are one aspect of the five-part cure for fixing public school education. Charter schools are innovative public schools that are accountable for student results by delivering tailored educational services based on the needs of the communities they serve. They are one of the most successful educational reforms of our country and they are growing fast. Charter schools are judged based on student achievement. Their leaders also can focus mainly on setting high academic goals for their students rather than worrying about procedures that gives other administrators a run around. Also, these schools have specialized programs meeting students needs in subjects such as reading, writing, and other arts. Some also contain programs like dropout prevention and adult education. So they seem to be the answer to bridging the educational gap that we are facing today. But that is not the case; I have seen other teachers that are in charter schools facing the same discipline problems we have in a traditional school setting and also dealing with the same amount of paperwork. Our school has tremendously improved the ELA and Math scores this year, yet our teacher are being excessed due to budget cuts. According to the blog, charter schools that do not need to raise teacher’s salary or need any extra money are able to keep their accounts frozen and if they do need to cut something they hit the extra programs. But, teachers in a traditional public school setting are losing their positions because of budget cuts. I think this is unfair and with fewer teachers there will eventually be more discipline issues which will affect the scores. According to a high stakes study of charter school performance, these schools have better academic growth results for students in poverty. Also, charter schools have different impact on students depending on their family backgrounds. They also mentioned that Blacks and Hispanics have significantly worse learning gains as compared to traditional school setting. This can be due to excessive pressure placed on the students. I am not sure if there is an effective way of measuring the effects of charter schools versus traditional schools because so many factors affect student’s performance. Even though they kept the demographics the same what takes place in the student’s personal lives effects their concentration and dedication towards learning. I sincerely believe that the traditional school system should receive as much support as traditional schools since the performance differences are minute. Word Count 519 Shabad Siu
Edu-Blog Entry
Funding for charter schools versus traditional schools has always been a hot topic. As a first year teacher teaching in a traditional school setting I have heard a lot of negative arguments against funding for charter schools. Going straight from college to a traditional school I did not get a chance to explore charter schools. I always wondered why there was a lot of buzz about charter school. When I went on interviews the majority of the recruiters were from charter schools and they displayed their schools to be a glorious place. I have realized otherwise after completing my first year as a teacher. According to Mandate for Change, Charter schools are one aspect of the five-part cure for fixing public school education.
Charter schools are innovative public schools that are accountable for student results by delivering tailored educational services based on the needs of the communities they serve. They are one of the most successful educational reforms of our country and they are growing fast. Charter schools are judged based on student achievement. Their leaders also can focus mainly on setting high academic goals for their students rather than worrying about procedures that gives other administrators a run around. Also, these schools have specialized programs meeting students needs in subjects such as reading, writing, and other arts. Some also contain programs like dropout prevention and adult education. So they seem to be the answer to bridging the educational gap that we are facing today. But that is not the case; I have seen other teachers that are in charter schools facing the same discipline problems we have in a traditional school setting and also dealing with the same amount of paperwork. Our school has tremendously improved the ELA and Math scores this year, yet our teacher are being excessed due to budget cuts. According to the blog, charter schools that do not need to raise teacher’s salary or need any extra money are able to keep their accounts frozen and if they do need to cut something they hit the extra programs. But, teachers in a traditional public school setting are losing their positions because of budget cuts. I think this is unfair and with fewer teachers there will eventually be more discipline issues which will affect the scores.
According to a high stakes study of charter school performance, these schools have better academic growth results for students in poverty. Also, charter schools have different impact on students depending on their family backgrounds. They also mentioned that Blacks and Hispanics have significantly worse learning gains as compared to traditional school setting. This can be due to excessive pressure placed on the students. I am not sure if there is an effective way of measuring the effects of charter schools versus traditional schools because so many factors affect student’s performance. Even though they kept the demographics the same what takes place in the student’s personal lives effects their concentration and dedication towards learning. I sincerely believe that the traditional school system should receive as much support as traditional schools since the performance differences are minute.
Word Count 519

]]> By: Tabithahargrove http://www.edwize.org/multiple-choice-a-high-stakes-study-of-charter-school-performance/comment-page-1#comment-66522 Tabithahargrove Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:15:04 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=4689#comment-66522 Edu-Blog Paper How can one compare a public school with a charter school? This has been of much debate at my school and other schools in New York City. As I close out my first year of teaching at a Middle School in District 8 I feel the gains we have made from getting off the SURR list, receiving an implementation grant ($250,000), and increasing our ELA and Math State scores from 45% TO 75% of the students with 3’s and 4’s goes unnoticed in the realm of charter schools. I feel many of us have to work twice as hard to prove that public schools are good schools and that public school teachers can perform and help the students grow just as well as the charter school teachers. As I began to read the Edu-blog on charter school funding and public school funding I began to quickly realize who was favored. The debate of how equal the school funding is for charter and district schools has never ceased to amaze me. While the charter schools are screaming for more money because they feel they are underfunded, the district schools are seeing more of their money being taken away and believe the charter schools are overfunded. This quote from a charter school blog on edwize.org states, “the fact that charter schools receive more than $12,000 per pupil, compared to an average of about $8000 per gened student that is sent to school level for traditional public schools, might lead one to conclude that charter schools actually receive a higher level of public support than traditional public schools.” [Haimson, Leonie, 2009] This is a significant difference from traditional public schools and I am still confused why this is? In this blog it has been said many times that the charter schools need more money because they need to pay for the building they work in and the increased teachers’ salary. This blogger then also lists many of the supports from the state that the charter schools receive for free such as facilities, energy, food, and transportation per pupil funding, so again why are the charter schools receiving more money per pupil as well as receiving free amenities if now the money that they would have needed for these amenities are now free? As the next fiscal year begins all of the funding for schools are frozen which means all schools will feel a hit but more so the traditional public schools. In my school we lost a little over $500,000, which meant 5 teachers, 6 school aides, and 2 social workers had to be accessed. This has confused me even though I am only a first year teacher, I can’t understand why a school that has made so many gains is being cut of funding. Everyone who is in the school contributed to our gain as a school and now they need to find new jobs but the charter schools who do not need an increased teachers salary or extra money gets to keep their frozen accounts and the only thing that takes the hit are the extra programs (all this was said in the blog). In conclusion I feel this battle of equity among charter and traditional public schools will be ongoing. Both sides will always want more money and always find faults in others who receive that money. Based on numbers alone it shows that traditional public schools have more students therefore they should receive more money. In charter schools having smaller classrooms 20:1 should not be compared to 35:1 in a traditional public school setting, should not base the opinion that charter schools are better. They are allowed to spend more individual time with students improving their overall state scores. If the traditional public schools were allotted more money then our class sizes would change as well and our overall state scores would increase and we would be able to be considered equal to charter schools. Edu-Blog Paper

How can one compare a public school with a charter school? This has been of much debate at my school and other schools in New York City. As I close out my first year of teaching at a Middle School in District 8 I feel the gains we have made from getting off the SURR list, receiving an implementation grant ($250,000), and increasing our ELA and Math State scores from 45% TO 75% of the students with 3’s and 4’s goes unnoticed in the realm of charter schools. I feel many of us have to work twice as hard to prove that public schools are good schools and that public school teachers can perform and help the students grow just as well as the charter school teachers. As I began to read the Edu-blog on charter school funding and public school funding I began to quickly realize who was favored.
The debate of how equal the school funding is for charter and district schools has never ceased to amaze me. While the charter schools are screaming for more money because they feel they are underfunded, the district schools are seeing more of their money being taken away and believe the charter schools are overfunded. This quote from a charter school blog on edwize.org states, “the fact that charter schools receive more than $12,000 per pupil, compared to an average of about $8000 per gened student that is sent to school level for traditional public schools, might lead one to conclude that charter schools actually receive a higher level of public support than traditional public schools.” [Haimson, Leonie, 2009] This is a significant difference from traditional public schools and I am still confused why this is? In this blog it has been said many times that the charter schools need more money because they need to pay for the building they work in and the increased teachers’ salary. This blogger then also lists many of the supports from the state that the charter schools receive for free such as facilities, energy, food, and transportation per pupil funding, so again why are the charter schools receiving more money per pupil as well as receiving free amenities if now the money that they would have needed for these amenities are now free?
As the next fiscal year begins all of the funding for schools are frozen which means all schools will feel a hit but more so the traditional public schools. In my school we lost a little over $500,000, which meant 5 teachers, 6 school aides, and 2 social workers had to be accessed. This has confused me even though I am only a first year teacher, I can’t understand why a school that has made so many gains is being cut of funding. Everyone who is in the school contributed to our gain as a school and now they need to find new jobs but the charter schools who do not need an increased teachers salary or extra money gets to keep their frozen accounts and the only thing that takes the hit are the extra programs (all this was said in the blog).
In conclusion I feel this battle of equity among charter and traditional public schools will be ongoing. Both sides will always want more money and always find faults in others who receive that money. Based on numbers alone it shows that traditional public schools have more students therefore they should receive more money. In charter schools having smaller classrooms 20:1 should not be compared to 35:1 in a traditional public school setting, should not base the opinion that charter schools are better. They are allowed to spend more individual time with students improving their overall state scores. If the traditional public schools were allotted more money then our class sizes would change as well and our overall state scores would increase and we would be able to be considered equal to charter schools.

]]> By: Kyle http://www.edwize.org/multiple-choice-a-high-stakes-study-of-charter-school-performance/comment-page-1#comment-66518 Kyle Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:36:12 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=4689#comment-66518 I think the last paragraph is the most important. Quality of charter schools is the key, not Quantity. Parents need to be smart consumers of education as with anything else, and choose high quality Charter Schools. That said, you can have neither quality nor quantity if your state continues to prohibit Charter Schools. This is the situation in Maine, and it is very frustrating. I think the last paragraph is the most important. Quality of charter schools is the key, not Quantity. Parents need to be smart consumers of education as with anything else, and choose high quality Charter Schools. That said, you can have neither quality nor quantity if your state continues to prohibit Charter Schools. This is the situation in Maine, and it is very frustrating.

]]> By: Gideon http://www.edwize.org/multiple-choice-a-high-stakes-study-of-charter-school-performance/comment-page-1#comment-66497 Gideon Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:02:09 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=4689#comment-66497 I think the last bullet point is one of the most important. Given time, charter schools do raise student achievement, so we should be looking at charter schools that have been open three or more years when we try to evaluate their effectiveness. I think the last bullet point is one of the most important. Given time, charter schools do raise student achievement, so we should be looking at charter schools that have been open three or more years when we try to evaluate their effectiveness.

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