Diane Ravitch: “Why I Changed My Mind About School Reform” (WSJ, March 9, 2010)
When charter schools started in the early 1990s, their supporters promised that they would unleash a new era of innovation and effectiveness. Now there are some 5,000 charter schools, which serve about 3% of the nation’s students, and the Obama administration is pushing for many more.
But the promise has not been fulfilled. Most studies of charter schools acknowledge that they vary widely in quality.
Jason Riley: “Charter Schools Flourish in Harlem” (WSJ, March 7, 2010)
This year, Harlem’s charter schools received more than 11,000 applications for 2,000 available slots. More than 7,000 children are on wait lists. Yet the United Federation of Teachers and its political acolytes in the New York state legislature are hell-bent on blocking school choice for underprivileged families. Worried that high-performing charters are “saturating” Harlem, State Sen. Bill Perkins and State Assemblyman Keith Wright have backed legislation that would gut state per-pupil funding at charter schools and allow a single charter operator to educate no more than 5% of a district’s students. Unions dislike charter schools because many aren’t organized. But how does limiting the replication of successful public education models benefit ghetto kids?
