As you may have heard, a new charter school is coming to Wake County. Yesterday, the State Board of Education approved the Endeavor Charter School’s application, and it will be one of two new charter schools opening next year. With the mismanaged John Baker charter school closing, the number of charter schools in the county will remain the same, although Endeavor will likely accommodate more students than Baker did.
One of the charter schools that did not receive approval from the SBE was the Duplin Charter School. Why did the SBE reject Duplin’s application? Direct instruction and accountability.
Lee said board members were concerned about Duplin’s use of “direct instruction,” a method in which teachers follow scripted lessons that dictate exactly what can be said in class. He said they were also concerned about requirements that families sign forms acknowledging that they could be removed from the school if they didn’t meet academic standards.
The Duplin Charter School would have followed the instructional model used by teachers at Roger Bacon Academy, one of the most successful schools in the state. By the way, the extremely successful Franklin Academy also uses Direct Instruction. No coincidence here.
So, Howard Lee and his ilk rejected a charter school application despite the fact that it would have used a proven model of instruction and would have held parents and students accountable for academic performance. Isn’t it good to know that they are running education in North Carolina?
