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Of course the KIPPsters will be greeted like rock stars. They are masters of the trend to counsel out underperformers. For example, KIPP Star will expand to a full high school within three years – but only for those students on track to attain a Regents diploma. All others will wind up in non-charter public high schools (or Opportunity Charter School, if they’re still around).

ELL’s and children with low IQ’s can hit the lottery to gain admittance, but what will the kids actually win when they realize they’re not graduating with their high achieving friends? Then Messrs. Levin and Feinberg will have their stars permanently affixed on Hollywood Boulevard after their former students have been successfully repopulated elsewhere.

The title “The Lottery” brings to mind Shirley Jackson’s short story in which winning the “lottery” has a different connotation than one might suspect.
Perhaps, someday, people will realize that the “prize” is tarnished and short-lived…and comes with a hefty price tag: the abolition of creativity, spontaneity, and genuine substance, all at the expense of the majority of school children in America, who are losing resources due to this “charter trend”.

It’s really tragic that charter school fans and those who see them as a threat seem to be gearing up for a full-scale war. Charters can be either a stimulous for badly needed change in public education or a threat to it, depending on whether we can develop a shared vision for effective public education and the politics needed to get us there. Such a vision has been developing in recent years, but it is constantly drowned out by battles that distract us from developing that vision. The media of course love wars, and can be counted on to report the drama they provide. But those who really care about getting us to quality education for ALL American kids have got to focus on building and fighting for that vision. Those who attack charter schools are right to be worried, but their bleatings too often sound like defenses for school systems that, despite decades of supposed “reforms,” have clearly not brought us the quality education for all that they claim to want. Enough already with that kind of that kind of unproductive dialogue.

Maybe we should let the charter school advocates win. Let them convert every unionized urban school to a non-unionized charter school. Let them force 10 hour school days/6 day school weeks/48 week school years on everybody. Let’s see

a) how well they educate the at-risk students they now own because there are no public schools to kick them to

b) let’s see what the drop-out rate looks like with the grueling 18th century work schedule they promote

c) let’s see what the burn-out rate of teachers and staff looks like

d) let’s see what happens to the test scores when they’re forced to educate children who are at risk, who are ELL, who need support services, who do not have motivated parents providing extrinsic motivation for the kids.

To Joe Schmo and others, I would love to get information on your experiences as teachers in charter schools.

Here in the state of Washington we, as parents of school aged children, are battling against merit pay and charter schools.

We have a blog, http://seattle-ed.blogspot.com, and would appreciate being able to post the experience that teachers have had in charter schools.

If you would be willing to send us your story to be posted, please contact me, Dora, at seattle.ed2009@gmail.com.

It infuriates me that just a few wealthy individuals, like Gates and Eli Broad, neither being educators or ever having children in public schools, can set a national agenda on our childrens’ education.

As a teacher in a charter school whose experience is inconsistent with every critique above, I have one question: What reforms do you propose? Instead of constructive counter-proposals, the Gotham Schools comments are filled with the same talking points we hear from the institutionalized education establishment. Longer days, longer school years, and higher expectations all seem to be off the table. I would like to hear your suggestions: what do we need to do to fix public education?

Finally, a documentary that focuses on families and the struggle to get into a good school. No one claimed that charter schools were perfect but for a lot of families, it gives them a choice. I know many families that are enrolled in both district and charter schools. The agony that some parents go through when they have enroll their child in a failing zoned school is heart-breaking. And I noticed that none of these comments focuses on parental choice but I guess no one really cares about the kids.

Personally, I’m not remotely offended when people who don’t know me at all tell me I don’t care about kids.

I have hopes for a day when most of us can focus on good schools for all of our kids, whether it be public charter schools or traditional public schools. I’ve taught at both… a traditional district high school with a majority of low-income students/kids of color AND at a KIPP school serving an even larger percentage of low-income kids of color and many SPED students, despite the myths about that. KIPP is hard, no doubt… hardest job I’ll ever have, but it was amazing at the same time. No, I couldn’t do it for 20 years, but I think that’s OK. When was it decided that one had to do the same thing for their entire career? Isn’t it better to find someone really, really good at teaching who is willing give everything for 3, 5 or 10 years vs. someone who might be mediocre and hope they shape our kids’ futures for their entire careers? As for KIPP, don’t feel sorry for us… we choose to work there – no one makes us do it and it’s not the right fit for everyone, but we hope for a better way or at least a different approach that creates better educational outcomes and opportunities for kids in underserved communities.
My two public school teaching experiences were night and day. At KIPP, our small staff was a team from top to bottom, and there was no union, I felt, that created an us against them mindset. Not every KIPP school is amazing, but I was surrounded by people who cared more than many people thought reasonable, and I experienced an absolute focus on what was best for kids, not adults. I had heard the stories – that KIPP creamed and kicked kids out who weren’t performing at high enough levels, or we just focused on test taking. I found the opposite… it was an attitude of “if we can’t save this child, maybe no one will,” so we recruited in the projects and uniformly believed that every child could go to college, regardless of poverty and family circumstances. It was up to us to get them there. No excuses. If kids weren’t learning, then we weren’t teaching. My colleagues were pretty amazing and they taught me and supported me to become a better teacher….I felt a level of support and pressure at the same time that I never felt at the district school, but it’s what I chose. In the end, is that a bad thing?

Hi Reality,
Sorry but if you wanted the money that we (charters) get, you would probably have to give up your pension. We get less money than you do.

And when the stimulus money was going through and flowing to districts last year and the law stated that charters were supposed to have an 8% increase in per pupil funding (based on the two year lag formula), NYSUT lobbied the legislature to freeze our funding.

You can ask Caroline Kennedy where all of money she raised went in the Fund for Public Schools. She did some of the same things we are trying to do to bring more resources to poor communities. Except it’s unclear to me which schools saw the benefit of her connections.

Only if the charter schools were forced to accept ALL the students that attend local public schools (including those with special needs and ELLs) would you fairly compare their performance with that of the public schools. and….only certain types of parents (motivated, etc) apply to charter schools – well, their kids are successful anywhere they go! As an educator whose public school shares the space with the charter school I see that the TOP students in the 4th grade get into the charter school each year. Those few who do not fit that category and are get accepted are weeded out by the middle of the year