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A
Portsmouth teacher inquires about starting a school
for children who are sorely in need of basic skills.
Two retired Charlottesville teachers want to
open a school emphasizing the famed “Core
Knowledge” curriculum.
A
Prince William educator is on the verge of having
her “international linguistics” school approved.
And two separate groups of parents – in
Richmond and Fairfax County – are moving forward
with plans for a special education school that will
teach children with autism in ways the traditional
public school system will not.
And
each of these schools is being designed as a
“Charter School” – an educational innovation
of choice of which Virginia has seen too little.
Charter
schools are public schools that tear down
traditional school models and let the community take
the lead. They
create new opportunities for parents in the active
governance of their school, allow teachers the
freedom to innovate and try new methods, and offer
students a smaller school with more personal
attention, a better fit, or an emphasis on a
particular subject.
But
only eight such schools have arisen in Virginia
since passage of a law authorizing their approval in
1998. And as
we prepare to celebrate the nation’s nearly 2,700
charter schools as part of
National Charter Schools Week (April 28-May
2), we’d do well to ask why Virginia is so far
behind the curve.
Part
of the reason is Virginia’s extremely restrictive
law, setting up obstacles difficult for small school
organizers to overcome.
It also has to do with institutional
reluctance by local school boards to give up control
of their system and truly empower parents and
school-based teachers.
Yet,
successes abound for charter schools throughout the
nation. The
reality is that most are succeeding where
traditional public schools often fail.
Consider
the Gainesville, Fla.’s Einstein Montessori
School, which serves students with dyslexia:
Average annual student gains were 14 months,
compared to three-month gains when those students
were in traditional public schools.
Or
take The Accelerated School, in Los Angeles.
A 2001 TIME Magazine “School of the
Year,” it posted a 97 percent gain in Stanford 9
scores from 1997 to 2001, and its reading and math
scores are three times higher than in the
neighborhood schools.
Contrary
to the myths fostered by charter school opponents,
charter schools cannot “select” their students
(it's first-come, first-served or by lottery, with
no tuition charged).
Nor do charter schools “cream” the best
students: Statistics
demonstrate that charters specifically serve student
populations that are most often poor, minority and
“at risk.”
Nor
are charter schools limited to some narrow band of
ideologues, as their opponents charge.
For
example, Montrose, Colorado’s Delta-Montrose
Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, in cooperation with
Montrose Memorial Hospital, developed a rural school
serving the needs of students who are pregnant or
parenting teens, providing core academics, job
preparation and parenting skills.
The Noble Street Charter School in Chicago
partners with the Northwestern University Settlement
Association: It
was formed to counter the regression of children who
transition from the local Head Start program to
local public elementary schools and uses facilities
owned by the settlement house.
Community-based
nonprofit sponsors include the YMCA of the USA, the
National Urban League, and National Council of La
Raza which will add up to 50 new affiliate charters
to its 22 current affiliates by 2005.
Gov.
Mark R. Warner came into office two years ago as a
supporter of the innovation exhibited by charter
schools. Indeed,
he was an important player in efforts to
successfully strengthen Virginia’s charter school
law. More
recently, he argued that Virginia’s education
“needs are financial but also (depend on) how we
better leverage current funds.”
One
way for Warner to do that, and to demonstrate his
commitment to charter schools, would be to issue an
annual proclamation for National Charter Schools
Week and to write local school board members across
the state, challenging them to develop a charter
school designed to meet the needs of a special
student population – be they deep poverty, special
education, vocational or disciplinary – now unmet
within the traditional, one-size-fits-all school
structure.
And
in preparing his legislative agenda for the 2004
session, the governor should propose a
constitutional amendment empowering the state Board
of Education to authorize charter schools directly
in order to take full advantage of available federal
funding, and provide an alternative route to
creating successful, innovative schools.
Charter
schools are working and serve well over a half
million students. It’s
time the Old Dominion got serious about fostering
this educational improvement, and the Governor has
an opportunity to lead the way.
--
April 21, 2003
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