Charter Schools Can Be Critical Tool for Education Reform, Witnesses Tell House Panel
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Congress begins efforts to rewrite and strengthen the nation’s federal education laws, lawmakers should examine ways to expand students’ access to high-performing charter schools, witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee today. While charter schools are not the silver bullet for fixing struggling schools, high performing charter schools offer many low-income and minority students the opportunity to receive a high quality education.
“High performing charter schools can be laboratories for innovative reforms,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “As we work to reform the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we need to be open to bold ideas that will help fix our schools, get us closer to our goal of delivering a world-class education to every student in America and ensure all students have access to these innovative opportunities.”
“As we begin to rewrite No Child Left Behind, we renew our commitment to closing the achievement gap and ensuring that each and every child, regardless of disability, economic or ethnic background, receives a quality education and the opportunity to succeed,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO). “I introduced the All Students Achieving through Reform (All-STAR) Act, which enables successful public charter schools that get the job done to expand and replicate. By building on what we know works, All-STAR allows more at-risk students to attend a great school and realize their full potential.”
A charter school is a public school that operates with public funds but less regulation than traditional public schools. Charter schools must be open to all students, use a lottery to determine admission if applicants exceed capacity and assess students annually in the same manner as public schools.
Specifically, today’s hearing examined legislation introduced by Polis, the All Students Achieving Through Reform Act, that would help expand access to and improve the quality of charter schools. The bill would allow states and school districts to compete for funds to help replicate and grow successful charter schools.
As witnesses explained, autonomy is one factor that helps quality charter schools succeed.
“We have the freedom to get it right,” said Eva Moskowitz, CEO and Founder, of the Harlem Success Academy. “The freedom to correct in real time when we get stuff wrong. The freedom to innovate. The freedom to work longer and harder. The freedom to organize our schools around children and teaching rather than the economic interests of grownups. Without this freedom, you would get the same results district schools get.”
Today more than 1.5 million students, three percent of all schoolchildren, attend nearly 5,000 charter schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Growth has continued steadily, but is concentrated in urban districts and a few states.
“The presence of even one charter school that is sending all of its poor and minority students to college can be a game changer for an urban superintendent,” said Robin Lake, Associate Director at the Center for Reinventing Public Education. “It can take away excuses that district schools can’t do better and it can inspire people to want to make politically difficult decisions.”
While charter schools have grown steadily in some districts, 89 percent of districts nationwide do not have a charter school.
Charter schools are accountable to the families and communities they serve, as well as the authorizing agency that oversees them. But research shows that 40 percent of charter school authorizers report that they do not have sufficient resources to help perform their responsibilities to support students, teachers and schools.
According to Greg Richmond, President, National Association of Charter School Authorizers, “without strong authorizer practices in place, a school drifting off course quickly becomes a disaster for its students, parents and the public.”
In addition, while high performing charter schools have helped increase student achievement, special populations of students, including students with disabilities, are often under-represented.
“Students with disabilities, English language learners and homeless students have rights as American citizens both granted to them by the Constitution and within various federal education laws. Anecdotal information suggests that some parents are discouraged from applying to charter schools and that some charter schools ‘send back’ students with complicated needs to traditional public schools,” said Dr. Thomas Hehir, Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “America has opened doors to previously excluded groups through the Civil Rights Act, the IDEA and The Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The federal government needs to assure that discrimination is not occurring within the charter sector.”
The hearing was one of a series of hearings the committee will hold as it prepares to overhaul ESEA. Last week, Miller, along with other leaders from the committee, announced they are moving forward with a bipartisan, open and transparent effort to ensure every child, in every state, receives a top-notch education. For more information, click here.
To view witness testimony, click here.
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