Have charter schools passed the test?

     The Charter school movement has come a long way since it first began here in 2000.

    Buffalo Niagara will have 16 charter schools during the upcoming school year -- the most in the state outside New York City.

   Some 7,000 children  are being educated at local charter schools and many charters have waiting lists.

   But after nearly a decade, there still is some underlying tension between the city's traditional  schools and charter schools.

   "The criticisms are diminishing," said Corrinne Cristofaro, executive director of the Western New York Charter Schools Coalition, "because performance is obvious."

-- Jay Rey   

Comments

[Bflolover]

They may not be cherry picking. However, the fact that there is no busing and that parents must DRIVE their children to the school is a huge factor. That means those parents are invested in their child's education. Parents who are not would not even do the leg work to have their child sign up for the lottery for a charter school.

[mia]

It's not rocket science to know that small classes, small school settings and parent involvement will result in higher scores. The problem is WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE KIDS? Recently a leader in the charter school field said "there are no disposable children", yeah sure and Williams does everything he does "for the children". Please. It's segregation all over, just under a pretty package, and it's separating the poor out from the stream.

[village idiot]

Wouldn't the public schools do much better if they could get rid of their special ed students and behavior problem kids? Isn't that what a charter school does? It's much easier to manage `150 kids vs. 1200.

[Sheila Dunn]

I live in the neighborhood of Elmwood Village Charter School (EVCS) and of two other Buffalo Public Schools. There is no comparison. EVCS uses the neighborhood to enhance science and math and writing instruction. In good weather, EVCS students are often seen with their teachers walking through the neighborhood with notebooks in hand and questions flying a mile a minute. The youngsters attending EVCS are some of the politest, good-natured, well-behaved children one would ever hope to meet. I have overheard teachers occasionally remind a student of appropriate behavior, but I have never heard a teacher raise his or her voice to a student or speak disrespectfully to a student. The teachers model the behaviors they expect from the students. I'm in love with EVCS. If my own child were still in elementary school, I would send her to this school. Sadly, I wouldn't even consider the Buffalo Public School System, even though in theory I am a big supporter of the concept of public education for all -- but not so much that I would sacrifice my own child's spirit and education for it. In both the Buffalo Public Schools and in EVCS, there is the same population of students: similar socio-economic backgrounds, similar racial/ethnic makeup, similar students who have special needs, similar teachers with the same certifications for teaching. The difference is that EVCS is an amazingly well-run school! Kudos to their principal John Sheffield, their board, and all the teachers, parents, and students who have created this wonderful school.

[Eddie Georger]

I lay no claim to being an expert about charters in Buffalo, but I do know that a couple of readers' comments tended toward "the misleading." First the comment about segregation being packaged differently: take a drive by South Buffalo Charter School at dismissal time and you'll see how inaccurate that comment is. Children with IEP's are not excluded from charters (i.e., the special ed students) but are provided for according to local standards and State regs. Children who are so-called "behavior problems" in school..?? Well, they tend to be so because of the lousie system with which we've victimized them. There is not a troublesome kid alive whose home situation would not reveal the cause of the problems upon some candor-based professional examination. And finally, that remark about "bussing" -- once again, that drive past South Buffalo charter School will clear up that misconception quite nicely.

[Michael Rebmann]

The success of the Charter Schools is just one more sign that traditional public schools have failed. The Charters are a step in the right direction. Next, all parents should be able to choose a school for their children. A voucher system would put the parents in charge, increase competition and provide students with a much better education than what is currently available through the public school system.

Also, a voucher system implemented properly would lower the cost of education. We currently have a public school system that sucks up money like a giant sponge without any tangible improvements. It is time to say "enough is enough" and pass the laws necessary for School Choice.

[proudcharterschoolmom]

Our daughter goes to one of the schools mentioned in the article(Pinnacle Charter school) a great school with great facualty and staff she has never gone to a bps and never will I see the difference in what she is learning and exposed to as to relatives kids who go to buffalo public.As a former teacher I choose this school for many reasons one being no bus transportation so the staff gets to see me or my husband every day I know how important that interaction is. lastly Pinnacle like many charter schools has a diverse student population and yes even kids with learning diffaculties and behavior concerns they are just delt with differently than in regular public schools
so I say Bravo Pinnacle and all of the other charter schools that are doing well ,

[VictoriaM]

I'm not bashing charter schools. It has it's place and provides choice for parents. There are truly some wonderful well staffed schools with committed teachers and compassionate leaders/headmasters/principals. However... as one reader pointed out, it's not rocket science, smaller class size, the ability for the administration to pick and choose who attends would and should produce better outcomes. Mia's question deserves an answer, "what about the rest of the children?" While all the charters are patting themselves on the back perhaps they should be kicking themselve in the backside for comparing apples to oranges. Here's an analogy, my neighbor and I bake a cake I use a hand-me-down toaster oven and my neighbor uses a top of the line brand new oven, their cake is bound to cook up better. That's what you have when you compare charter schools to BPS. And while you charter schools are taking a bow, how many of you are operating on "conditional" charters and are test-driven schools that teach to the test and not for the purpose of learning.

[Danno]

Charter schools provide a realistic opportunity for low income parents to get their children up and out out of the awful morass of the City of Buffalo schools. Why should everyone living in the city (who can't afford a private school) be forced to send their children to school with the worst of the worst? Bad schools are the primary reason for white flight (and black flight, hispanic flight, and asian flight). Finally a choice, and the payoff may be keeping a semblance of a middle class in Buffalo.

[Robert James]

BTF position: If it works - i.e. raises test scores without raising teacher's pay - it must be destroyed.

[supporter]

Sure charter schools are not currently an option for all students as there are only so many spaces available, but does that mean we should get rid of them and throw all the students in them back into failing Buffalo Public Schools? If everyone can’t have a good education, no one should? That doesn’t make any sense. Instead we should create more charters – or charter-like schools. It is easier to manage 150 students, than 1200. Education reform efforts are happening all around the country with the aim of turning these large schools into multiple small schools. In fact, in proactive cities like Boston they have even created in-district charter schools, called Pilot schools. These schools are part of the public school system, but are granted more autonomy over their curriculum, staffing, and budget, so that they are able to react to the needs of their students. These schools were created as an attempt to compete with charter schools. Why doesn’t Buffalo get on board? Use these successful schools as models, and create more of them. When opportunities are available, parents find ways to take advantage of them. By not providing families with choices for so many years, we have fostered apathy. The number of students on the wait list at these schools is proof that we need more of them and there are many families who are doing the research and looking for better options.

[get it right]

Charter schools accomplish what they do because they are not subjected to Rumore, the BTF, Williams, and the Board of Shame.

[OP Mike]

So, about one-fifth of the elementary school kids in Buffalo actually get the opportunity to attend a hand full of modestly successful charter schools, and this news makes the whiners and complainers begin to screech and scream. They think this is so unfair. Unfair to have smaller class sizes. Unfair to have involved parents. Unfair to have well behaved and successful students. This must be racism! Or maybe it's some unholy vast right wing Republican conspiracy!

Any measure of success in Buffalo, no matter how small, must be either unfair or racist. Far better to have no success whatsoever. Let everyone fail, It's so much more fair, so much more socialistic.

Maybe Phil Rumore and his band of thugs at the BTF can threaten, coerce and pressure their lap dogs in Albany to kill this thing right now. Kill it before all this unfair, undemocratic and racist success spreads and contaminates the entire city of Buffalo.

[Don H]

The permanent right and responsibility to educate their children belong to the parents. Many have delegated formal education to tax supported public schools. If that system is failing, parents have a right to expect a different tax funded availability. As of now, those alternatives are charter schools and private school vouchers. Some parents are also turnig to at home education, especially for the primary grades.

[Lydia Bezou-Hojnacki]

Dear Don: Wouldn't this world be a better place if all parents were required to HOME-SCHOOL their children BEFORE the kids are admitted to school?

Entrance exam:

Write your full name, address, and telephone number. Now read each part as you point to it.

Tell your mother's full name. Who else lives in your house?

Tell how many items are in each of the piles in front of you.

What colors are in each pile?

Read these words and use them in sentences: IN, OUT, EXIT, ENTER, K-MART, TOPS, GO, STOP, BUS STOP, TAXI.

This toy costs $4.00; how many of these $1.00 bills do you need to buy this toy?

[jones]

Sure, let's take 200 good kids and teach them without any behavior problem kids throwing things out the window or MFing each other and the teacher...Don't forget the mainstreamed spec ed kids who are in the back tapping their broken pencil, talking, giggling, walking around the room, looking out the door, spitting out the window, etc. Sure, then it's easy. It's segregation, only prettier.

[homer]

Hey 7,000 out of 37,000 ain't bad??????? Talk about segregation....