Report says PA charter schools could perform better

Tuesday, 12 July 2011 15:29

Report says PA charter schools could perform better

Written by Scott LaMar, Director of Radio Smart Talk

Radio Smart Talk for Wednesday, July 13:

Pennsylvania's charter schools performed better than public schools in some areas but not as well in others. Those mixed results from Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes were a bit of a surprise for some who expected the state's 135 charter schools and 12 cyber charter schools would fare better than their public school counterparts. The thinking was that charter schools could specialize on the basics of reading and math while public schools had other issues they had to deal with.

According to the Stanford study, 30% of charter schools fared better than public schools in reading while 25% of charters outperformed public schools in math.

Cyber charter school students, who take classes at home via the internet, performed significantly worse than public school students.

Who pays the cost of educating a student at a public charter school has also been an issue. When a student leaves a local district and enrolls at a charter school, the money follows the student as the local district pays. A proposal has been made that would have make funding of charter schools a state responsibility.

Wednesday's Radio Smart Talk will examine the state of charter schools in Pennsylvania.

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# Art 2011-07-13 07:55

My granddaughter attends a cyber charter school. The experience has been generally positive. She has been challenged and has made great progress at her own rate. She has become excited about learning. Additionally, and this was my biggest concern, she has made great progress in her social skills as well.

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# Robin 2011-07-13 09:29

Parents have a legitamite gripe when their kids have to fly coach so others can fly first class.

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# Frank Harvey 2011-07-13 09:51

Charter Schools are one of the biggest current scams in PA Education. They cherry pick the highest academic scoring students from public schools, make their parents all kinds of promises, but the very second that the child falls below grade they throw the child out, sometimes in the middle of the day. The parent and child, dreams crushed, are forced to return to the public school they were encouraged to leave and told was inferior. Charter Schools prey on taxpayers in poorer Districts by offering all kinds of extras to entice students but which a fiscally responsible or impoverished School Board cannot afford to offer all students, however the insane law requires that the School District pay for students at the Charter School. And all this is encouraged by avaricious out-of-state consultants who troll the state reciving huge fees for establishing these scams.
Charter Schools discard 60 percent of students within a year, keeping only the highest performing. The should be ashamed

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# Robin 2011-07-13 09:51

I find it counter intuitive Art, that being cooped up in one's bedroom has the same socialization affect as enjoying the company of one's peers throughout the school day - in class teacher-student "exchange of ideas", or even in the hallways and extra curicular activities all of which help create good citizenship and preparation for participation in exchange of ideas as an adult, in forums such as SMARTTALK.

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# Art 2011-07-13 11:59

While the experience is different it's not necessarily bad. There are school activities that bring pupils together physically as well as online. And the family has to be able to take up the challenge whether through club, church and other activities.

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# Patricia Anderson 2011-07-13 10:10

At St. Stephens Episcopal Learning Community we are committed to the education the whole child. Our goal is to facilitate the cyber school success of each student while strengthening their personal character depth and experience with team projects, volunteer work, extra-curricular activities and enrichment programs. For over 30 years we have been a school without walls utilizing Harrisburg resources for Preschool through 8th grade, serving students from 5 counties - and are now providing the same approach for public cyber school students in grades 9-12.
For more information please visit our website at www.sseschool.org, email president@ssesc hool.org or attend our Open House on July 21, 5:30PM @ 215 N. Front Street, Harrisburg.

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# Frank Harvey 2011-07-13 10:15

On one day two years ago in the middle of the semester, three elementary students were evicted from Lincoln Charter School in York PA and returned to McKinley Elementary Public School. One did not meet Lincoln's English speaking standards and two were deemed by Lincoln to have behavior problems.
When a Charter School entices a student the school should be forced to accept that student for a minimum of a full school year as long as the parent wishes the child to attend. Charter Schools should be forced to provide identical services as provided by the student's home District; if pre- or after school meals are provided then the Charter School should also have to provide them. If mentally or physically disadvantaged students wish to attend a Charter School the school should be forced to accept them, as the local School District currently must. Taxpayers in Districts from which students are drawn should be have representation on Charter School Boards.

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# Frank Harvey 2011-07-13 10:17

Correction:
Taxpayers in Districts from which students are drawn should be have representation on Charter School Boards.
Should read:
Taxpayers in Districts from which students are drawn should be granted representation on Charter School Boards.

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# Scott LaMar 2011-07-13 10:53

An hour sometimes is not enough time to discuss all or most of the issues related to our topics, so we will re-visit charter schools. A few issues that we will address are teacher certification -- about three quarters of teachers at charter schools are certified, teachers at charters who don't belong to a union and whether that helps or hurts the students, teachers and schools, and charters and special education students. Stay tuned.

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# Barb S 2011-07-13 10:57

Charter schools are a choices. My 14 year old son is enrolled in a Cyber charter school and the Learning Community at St Stephens School in HBG.He will maintain his basic academics through a cyber school. This will provide more opportunities to experience real world classroom. The student will get out and travel around the community making contact with actual people. They will have the opportunity to explore the world. Building well round independent adults with the skills they will need to succeed in the future. Parents need to think about their own individual child, don't assume the neighborhood school will work for your child. Look at the student body, the other parents, and staff. ASK yourself are these the type of people I want influencing my child? If you answer no to any of those 3 groups then maybe you need to look for a better alternative for your child. Interview the schools. Find a Cyber school that fits and a Learning Community for Socialization. Sign them up.

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# Barb S 2011-07-13 11:00

If you want to check out what a Learning community is all about call the St Stephens at 238-3920 and set up a tour or visit their open house july 21 at 5:30. 215 N Front Street Harrisburg. Make a choice for your own child. If you are reading this report at all you are concerned about education. education yourself on making schools work for you and your child's Future.

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# Frank Harvey 2011-07-13 12:06

To Barb S, Patricia and Art:
Privately funded schools, Church schools and Home schooling can be more effective than Public schools, especially academically, in many (most ?) individual cases. The same can be said of any selective-admission institution, such as Charter schools. One problem with PA's effort at Charter schools is that the Charter can suck whatever money they want out of the local taxpayer funded Public schools with no local taxpayer input or control. It is also a fact that (some) Charter schools cherry pick desirable students from local Public schools but as soon as the student does not meet the performance standards they are dumped back into the Public schools who are then left to try to undo the emotional damage inflicted on the child and parent by having been being deemed inadequate. You should compare taxpayer funded Charter schools' performance with other Private and Church Schools, and not with the Public schools who must take every student who shows up.

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# Dorothee M 2011-07-13 19:56

I'd like to clarify that brick-and-mortar charter schools are different from cyber schools in that they are not allowed to discriminate who they accept as pupils. If the number of students applying exceeds the available spaces then a lottery decides. Also, charter schools manage to run on 2/3 of the amount that a public school spends per student. The home school district of the child has to pay the charter school 2/3 of the amount that they spend per student. My son is enrolled at the brick-and-mortar charter school "Infinity Charter School" in Harrisburg and we are very, very grateful for that school.

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