Several days ago I wrote about the "myths" in Obama's education speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
It seems that the speech also included some exaggerations and falsehoods.
According to factcheck.org, Obama's claim that the high school dropout rate has "tripled" in the past thirty years is simply wrong. In fact, the dropout rate has "declined by a third."
And Obama's stated goal "of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world" by the year 2020 has already been reached. Or almost reached:
Obama also promised to put more money into charter schools. In my earlier post I wondered why, considering that charters typically perform no better than traditional neighborhood schools in terms of student achievement. But there's also a dark side to charter schools that seldom reaches the public ear.
Consider this news from Atlanta involving the vaunted KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) charter school organization. It seems that some parents of students at KIPP South Fulton Academy are angry about "excessive punishment" related to the the school's "high expectations for conduct." The parents have threatened to pull their students from the school.
Rumors have long circulated about KIPP's "shunning" of students with typical middle school behavioral problems. A related issue is KIPP's high attrition rate, which critics say largely accounts for its high test scores.
Here in Portland, a new audit of charter schools raises questions about their value to improving public education. Not only does the district audit show a "mixed" result for the impact of charters on improving student achievement, it also reports that charters serve fewer low income or minority students than traditional public schools.
More significantly, the audit warns of an adverse impact of charters on neighborhood school enrollment. It says specifically,
"If charter school students attended their neighborhood school at the same rate as other children living in their neighborhood, an estimated 31 additional teachers could be assigned to PPS schools."
As I've said before on many occasions, charter schools are not the reform we need to improve public education.
I reviewed the charter school audit that you linked to and found some interesting items:
PPS criticizes results, yet most charters have only been around for a few years. How about giving them some time?
The audit (and PPS's response) suggests more oversight of charters, including institution of measurable goals Sounds like NCLB is OK for charter schools??
The report states that if students attending charters instead attended their neighborhood school, PPS could hire 31 additional teachers. Charter enrollment is 1,080. So the result would be a 35:1 student teacher ratio; what a great idea!
Finally, charter enrollment constitutes 2.3% of PPS enrollment; hardly sounds like much of an issue in the grand scheme of things. PPS has many other issues of it's own making that PPS administration should be addressing before worrying about charters.
It is interesting that this blog mocks President Obama for his statements regarding high school dropout rates, then goes on to admit that the percent of students failing to graduate on time is the same now as it was 40 years ago (approximately 25%). Why is the lack of progress not a huge concern to the educational lobby? It certainly appears to be a big concern of the President.
Posted by: Gerald Howard | March 28, 2009 at 01:56 PM
As long as charters remain few in number and small in size, they don't pose "much of an issue in the grand scheme of things." PPS should definitely deal with the transfer policy first if it wants to promote educational equity.
Unfortunately, Obama seems to have big plans for charters. That doesn't bode well for either PPS or for the future of public education in this country, in my opinion.
By the way, I didn't "mock" Obama. I merely pointed out an error in the "facts" he presented to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. I support Obama on many issues, but I think he's dead wrong on education reform.
Posted by: Terry | March 29, 2009 at 02:11 PM
I will say about the Atlanta which is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia,so about the speech you share,i think the speech is marvelous and the things in the speech is also great and absolutely remarkable,so it is good for the people to know about it,and also useful,great to share about the speech.
Posted by: Dissertation | February 27, 2011 at 11:20 PM
At first, the Monster Headphones acquisition a Grammy Award champ Dr. beatsDre ailing clothes, to altercate
how to actualize a beautiful angle products. They assuredly set their goals and the ambit of hip-hop music. With hip-hop rap is an important annex of the adopted and American
accepted culture,Beats Dr Dre rap and hip-hop rap with abounding cultural
articles and customer appurtenances in the United States. This is a able accessible bazaar is abounding of attractive, simple to accompany and be absorbed to allure earners.
Monster Earphones
Monster Beats
Beats By Dre
Monster Beats Studio
wholesale monster headphones
Monster Beats Solo HD
Monster Limited Edition
Monster ArtistLIKEQUN789
Posted by: cheap monster headphones hot sale online shop | February 02, 2012 at 12:15 AM