Choosing Diversity , livre ebook

Pacific Research Institute - Lance Izumi

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90 pages

English

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In Choosing Diversity, Lance Izumi writes that one of the key traits that distinguishes charter schools from traditional public schools is the diversity of educational experiences promoted by the ability to choose.

He profiles charter schools that are as different from each other as one could imagine, from geography to student populations to teaching methodologies to technology use to curricula. But, together, they exemplify the diversity that is at the heart of the charter school ideal, which is to meet the needs of each individual student.

While test scores are an important consideration, Izumi makes the case that for many parents, non-test-score issues such as a safe learning environment, the ability to homeschool their kids, or a technology-focused curriculum, can trump test score performance when it comes to choosing a school, including choosing a charter school.

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Publié par	Pacific Research Institute
Date de parution	07 janvier 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780936488066
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0400€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Choosing Diversity: How Charter Schools Promote Diverse Learning Models and Meet the Diverse Needs of Parents and Children by Lance Izumi
January 2019
ISBN 978-1-934276-39-6 ISBN 978-0-936488-06-6 (e-book)
Pacific Research Institute
101 Montgomery Street, Suite 1300
San Francisco, CA 94104
Tel: 415-989-0833
Fax: 415-989-2411
www.pacificresearch.org
Nothing contained in this report is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
©2019 Pacific Research Institute. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without prior written consent of the publisher.

Contents
Introduction
Chapter One: Charters for Children with the
Most Special Needs
Life Learning Academy
NYC Autism Charter School
Chapter Two: Diversity Within Diversity
Natomas Charter School
Classical Academy
Chapter Three: High-Tech Charters
Design Tech High School
Summit Shasta Public School
Chapter Four: Classical Charters
John Adams Academy
Mason Classical Academy
Photos of Schools Featured in this Book
Chapter Five: Meeting Needs in Rural America
Grimmway Academy Shafter
Chapter Six: Urban Charters—
Controversies from Coast to Coast
Magnolia Public Schools
Success Academy
Chapter Seven: Successful Urban Schools
Avondale Meadows Academy
DSST Public Schools
Conclusion
Endnotes
Acknowledgements
About the Author
About Pacific Research Institute
INTRODUCTION

“ In my experience, people think, ‘Oh, all charter schools are the same.’ Nope, they’re not all the same. In fact, they’re quite a bit different. But a lot of people don’t know that. A classical charter school is far different than a STEM school. So, I think it’s important to really make sure the reader understands that not all charter schools are the same.
~ KELLY LICHTER
FOUNDER OF MASON
CLASSICAL ACADEMY

Introduction
KELLY LICHTER’S OBSERVATION is absolutely true and illuminates the reason for this book. In the ongoing debate over regular public schools versus public charter schools, an important distinction between the two types of schools is often overlooked: while most regular public schools are cookie-cutter imitations of each other, there is a wide diversity of learning models used by charter schools.
Over the years, proponents of charter schools have offered many reasons for the establishment of these independent public schools. Always key among these various reasons has been the concept of choice for parents and students, plus the diversity of educational experiences promoted by that ability to choose.
For example, the California Charter School Association’s definition of a charter school underscores the key elements of “unique educational experiences” and “choice”:
Charter schools are independent public schools with rigorous curriculum programs and unique educational approaches. In exchange for operational freedom and flexibility, charter schools are subject to higher levels of accountability than traditional public schools. Charter schools, which are tuition-free and open to all students, offer quality and choice in the public education system. 1
The landmark 1992 California legislation that established charter schools is among the oldest state charter school laws in the nation. It has influenced many subsequent charter school laws. Reading the California law, it is clear that choice and diversity of learning experiences is the raison d’etre of charter schools.
“Increase learning opportunities,” “expanded learning experiences,” “different and innovative teaching methods,” and “expanded choices in the types of educational opportunities that are available” are all phrases that are used in the text of the law that underscore how essential choice and diversity are as the foundation for charter schools. 2
Yet, the discussion of charter schools often treats charter schools as a group. As a result, studies of student achievement often compare charter schools as a group versus regular public schools as a group. However, whereas regular public schools are more likely to be similar to each other in terms of curricula and teaching methodologies, charter schools, by definition, are not only different from traditional public schools, but also differ from each other. Grouping charters together, therefore, fails to recognize the diversity among charters that is their inherent characteristic.
In my 2005 Pacific Research Institute book Free to Learn, I examined a number of individual charter schools in California and found that these schools used a variety of educational models to improve student learning and meet the needs of diverse student populations. Much has changed since Free to Learn was published more than a dozen years ago, both in the charter school world and, more generally, in how educational services are delivered. This book profiles charter schools that epitomize this evolution.
While test scores on annual standardized tests in the core subjects are still one consideration, other issues must also be examined as parents and students exercise their freedom to choose the right school and learning program.
Take, for instance, Stacey, Noe, and Edgar, who are elementary school students at Grimmway Academy charter school in the small rural town of Shafter in Kern County, California. Each of these students had safety issues at their previous regular public school, ranging from bullying to shootings. Their parents chose Grimmway Academy largely because the school offered a safer learning environment for their children. Their stories will be told in greater detail in the book.
For many parents, non-test-score issues, such as school safety, can trump test-score performance when it comes to choosing any school, including choosing a charter school. That is why the title of this book is Choosing Diversity rather than Choosing by Test Scores.
Education policy analysts are coming to this conclusion when they judge the school-choice decisions of parents. Lindsey Burke, director of the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, points out: “. . . while researchers often look to test scores to determine school quality, parents do so to a far lesser extent. Parents prioritize school safety, while student performance on standardized tests is one of the least important factors parents cite.” 3
Doubt is now being cast on key aspects of current specific standardized tests being used by states to measure student performance.
The Smarter Balanced test, for instance, which is aligned to the Common Core national education standards and which is part of the testing program of more than a dozen states, including California, has been sharply criticized by experts. When it was initially rolled out in 2015, math education consultant Steve Rasmussen produced an analysis of the sample Smarter Balanced math questions and found that based on these questions the Smarter Balanced tests “Violate the standards they are supposed to assess; cannot be adequately answered by students with the technology they are required to use; use confusing and hard-to-use interfaces; or are to be graded in such a way that incorrect answers are identified as correct and correct answers as incorrect.” 4 Even more troubling, according to other experts, is the fact that it is impossible to determine if the problems cited by Rasmussen were corrected because the test’s producers do not retire or release any items from past administrations, “so neither students nor parents can actually examine the nature of the test for themselves.” 5
In their 2018 critique of the Smarter Balanced test published by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Hoover research fellow and former U.S. assistant secretary of education Williamson Evers and former senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Education Ze’ev Wurman blasted the test and the state of California’s implementation of the test on a variety of fronts:
When the state adopts a brand new test that has not been validated against external known benchmarks...when the test shows inexplicable unnatural trends and the test-maker does not address them; when test results show strong bias against populations that already have academic challenges...when the state removes our ability to track the success of our students in multiple grades under the new test...then we clearly have a problem of trust, and we currently are flying blind. 6
Respected experts say we cannot trust this standardized test to tell us if it is truly measuring student performance fairly and validly. Consequently, basing evaluations of charter schools, for example, on the scores of such a test would be misleading and would misinform parents and the public. Thus, the charter schools included in this book, Choosing Diversity , includes both schools that have high test scores such as Success Academy in New York City, and also charter schools like Life Learning Academy, which has lower test scores, but which provides a safe environment and high graduation rates for students who the regular public schools cannot educate because of their extremely challenging backgrounds.
In the profile on Life Learning Academy, I feature Allan Pickens, an alumnus of the school, whose