The New York Times reports that in the next couple of years, 75 new charter schools will open city wide but it doesn't look like the process is going to be much easier than in the past. Even though Harlem Success Academy has proven itself as a better school option, the charter seems to still get a lot of resistance every time it tries to open a new branch. This time around, the nabes around the Upper West Side are part of the uproar as the Harlem charter tries to expand into a territory where the new middle class are seeking options:
LINK. What's really not made so clear about these Upper West Side articles on school reform is that even though the neighborhood is considered wealthy, there are several low-income areas and housing project blocks that make up the demographic of the public schools.
As the article points out many of the schools are overcrowded and the select public schools that are performing well don't have room for any more students. The middle class in Manhattan have traditionally been pushed out to the suburbs because their only option in the past was spend $30,000 a year on private school or go to an underperforming city school. There's a lot of politics involved as usual but what is most apparent in the situation is that even though schools are crowded in certain areas, the city would rather expand a new charter than open one of the traditional public schools. Harlem Success Academy has also been slated to open in Brooklyn:
LINK
The obvious solution would be to make the underperforming schools more like the high-performing schools. Too bad that's not discussed as a solution.
ReplyDeleteAs for ps 165 discussed at the end of the article:
"...Mr. Santiago said he did not want him to go to the school he is zoned for, Public School 165, where 69 percent of students failed English tests last year, placing the school in the bottom-25th percentile citywide. "
81% is free lunch, 26% of the school is english language learners, and 16% designated special ed.
source: http://insideschools.org/index12.php?fs=130
I would love for someone to show me a high-performing charter school with student population percentages like that.
mg: the problem is that people have beeen trying for a quarter of a century to make low performing schools into high performing schools but there are too many players with their own agendas to make that happen: the mayor, the governor, the Dept of Ed., the Bd of Ed, the chancellor, the State Regents, the Teacher's Union, vaious community bds., parent advocates and others.
ReplyDeleteCharter schools may not be the long term solution but at present in nyc they are the one on-the-ground solution that is working and despite the hateful rhetoric aimed at them, parents are lining up in droves to get their children into a charter school. Unless the current system can offer something that can be implemented today then the rest is just special interests and self preservation ad infinitum.
But are they really working or are they just skimming off the best students? I'm really not convinced.
ReplyDeletemg -- I don't know the answer, but I do think there is even something to be said for "skimming off" the best students (if in fact that's all it is).
ReplyDeleteProviding an alternative institution where a self-selecting group of somewhat more motivated students can have a greater chance of success -- I don't consider that a bad thing.
We need to reform and revitalize the entire system, yes... but why not "save" as many as we can right now?