Improving Charter School Accountability: The Challenge of Closing Failing Schools
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| Title: | Improving Charter School Accountability: The Challenge of Closing Failing Schools |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Osborne, David, Progressive Policy Institute |
| Source: | Progressive Policy Institute. 2012. |
| Availability: | Progressive Policy Institute. 600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE Suite 400, Washington, DC 20003. Tel: 202-547-0001; Fax: 202-544-5014; Web site: http://www.ppionline.org |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Physical Description: | |
| Page Count: | 40 |
| Publication Date: | 2012 |
| Sponsoring Agency: | Walton Family Foundation |
| Document Type: | Reports - Evaluative |
| Descriptors: | Charter Schools, Accountability, Public Education, Educational Improvement, Educational Quality, School Districts, Governance, Risk, School Closing, Academic Achievement, Barriers, Federal Government, Government Role |
| Abstract: | Today some 5,600 charter schools are in operation, with more than two million students. Some critics persist in a fruitless argument that these schools have failed, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. But regardless of your opinion about them, charter schools are here to stay. Those concerned about public education should quit debating whether we should have charter schools and instead focus on improving their quality. That will require us to do at least two big things. We must replicate the most successful charter models--the subject of a Progressive Policy Institute paper last year, "Going Exponential: Growing the Charter School Sector's Best"--and we must close down the worst charter schools--the subject of this report. From the beginning, the charter concept was to give schools more autonomy--freedom to hire and fire their staffs and control their own budgets and curriculum--while still holding them accountable for performance. No charter would be allowed to fail its students year after year, as traditional public schools are often permitted to do. If their students were not learning, they would close. This promise has not always been fulfilled. Hundreds of school districts have authorized charters then failed to invest in oversight. Even some statewide authorizers report that they have insufficient data to make merit-based renewal and revocation decisions. Failing charter schools are at much greater risk of closing than other failing public schools. Still, if we are to harness their true potential, many states need to heighten that risk. In its first 10 years, the charter community focused mostly on "quantity": getting charters open. Over the past ten years, it has focused increasingly on charter school "quality". Today, it is time to open a third frontier: "authorizer quality". The key to quality in the charter sector is quality authorizing. In this report the author discusses why it is so important that authorizers close failing charters, reviews the facts about charter and authorizer performance, examines why some authorizers fail to close underperforming charters, and proposes solutions to these problems. To answer such questions, the author has reviewed the literature and interviewed fifteen current or former charter authorizers and another ten experts on charter schools. In addition, thanks to the generosity of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the author has reviewed the data accumulated by its annual surveys of authorizers. (Contains 2 figures and 83 endnotes.) |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2012 |
| Accession Number: | ED533181 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 CustomLinks: – Url: https://eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED533181 Name: ERIC Full Text Category: fullText Text: Full Text from ERIC |
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| Header | DbId: eric DbLabel: ERIC An: ED533181 AccessLevel: 3 PubType: Report PubTypeId: report PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Improving Charter School Accountability: The Challenge of Closing Failing Schools – Name: Language Label: Language Group: Lang Data: English – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Osborne%2C+David%22">Osborne, David</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Progressive+Policy+Institute%22">Progressive Policy Institute</searchLink> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Progressive+Policy+Institute%22"><i>Progressive Policy Institute</i></searchLink>. 2012. – Name: Avail Label: Availability Group: Avail Data: Progressive Policy Institute. 600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE Suite 400, Washington, DC 20003. Tel: 202-547-0001; Fax: 202-544-5014; Web site: http://www.ppionline.org – Name: PeerReviewed Label: Peer Reviewed Group: SrcInfo Data: N – Name: PhysDesc Label: Physical Description Group: PhysDesc Data: PDF – Name: Pages Label: Page Count Group: Src Data: 40 – Name: DatePubCY Label: Publication Date Group: Date Data: 2012 – Name: SourceSuprt Label: Sponsoring Agency Group: SrcSuprt Data: Walton Family Foundation – Name: TypeDocument Label: Document Type Group: TypDoc Data: Reports - Evaluative – Name: Subject Label: Descriptors Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Charter+Schools%22">Charter Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Accountability%22">Accountability</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Public+Education%22">Public Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Improvement%22">Educational Improvement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Quality%22">Educational Quality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+Districts%22">School Districts</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Governance%22">Governance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Risk%22">Risk</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+Closing%22">School Closing</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Academic+Achievement%22">Academic Achievement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Barriers%22">Barriers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Federal+Government%22">Federal Government</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Government+Role%22">Government Role</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Today some 5,600 charter schools are in operation, with more than two million students. Some critics persist in a fruitless argument that these schools have failed, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. But regardless of your opinion about them, charter schools are here to stay. Those concerned about public education should quit debating whether we should have charter schools and instead focus on improving their quality. That will require us to do at least two big things. We must replicate the most successful charter models--the subject of a Progressive Policy Institute paper last year, "Going Exponential: Growing the Charter School Sector's Best"--and we must close down the worst charter schools--the subject of this report. From the beginning, the charter concept was to give schools more autonomy--freedom to hire and fire their staffs and control their own budgets and curriculum--while still holding them accountable for performance. No charter would be allowed to fail its students year after year, as traditional public schools are often permitted to do. If their students were not learning, they would close. This promise has not always been fulfilled. Hundreds of school districts have authorized charters then failed to invest in oversight. Even some statewide authorizers report that they have insufficient data to make merit-based renewal and revocation decisions. Failing charter schools are at much greater risk of closing than other failing public schools. Still, if we are to harness their true potential, many states need to heighten that risk. In its first 10 years, the charter community focused mostly on "quantity": getting charters open. Over the past ten years, it has focused increasingly on charter school "quality". Today, it is time to open a third frontier: "authorizer quality". The key to quality in the charter sector is quality authorizing. In this report the author discusses why it is so important that authorizers close failing charters, reviews the facts about charter and authorizer performance, examines why some authorizers fail to close underperforming charters, and proposes solutions to these problems. To answer such questions, the author has reviewed the literature and interviewed fifteen current or former charter authorizers and another ten experts on charter schools. In addition, thanks to the generosity of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the author has reviewed the data accumulated by its annual surveys of authorizers. (Contains 2 figures and 83 endnotes.) – Name: AbstractInfo Label: Abstractor Group: Ab Data: As Provided – Name: DateEntry Label: Entry Date Group: Date Data: 2012 – Name: AN Label: Accession Number Group: ID Data: ED533181 |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=ED533181 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Languages: – Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 40 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Charter Schools Type: general – SubjectFull: Accountability Type: general – SubjectFull: Public Education Type: general – SubjectFull: Educational Improvement Type: general – SubjectFull: Educational Quality Type: general – SubjectFull: School Districts Type: general – SubjectFull: Governance Type: general – SubjectFull: Risk Type: general – SubjectFull: School Closing Type: general – SubjectFull: Academic Achievement Type: general – SubjectFull: Barriers Type: general – SubjectFull: Federal Government Type: general – SubjectFull: Government Role Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Improving Charter School Accountability: The Challenge of Closing Failing Schools Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Progressive Policy Institute – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Osborne, David IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2012 Titles: – TitleFull: Progressive Policy Institute Type: main |
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