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Visit A Charter School Today!

May 6, 2013 By

Find a School or Make a Virtual Visit during National Charter Schools Week, 2013

CER Press Release
Washington, D.C.
May 6, 2013

Thanks to partnerships with thousands of local and state organizations supporting or managing charter schools, The Center for Education Reform (CER) has, for 15 years, provided citizens and parents with access to a comprehensive directory of charter schools.

A glimpse of this data makes clear the breadth and depth of the purpose of National Charter Schools Week, the 6,200 schools which together are creating more and better learning opportunities for students and families. The directory provides an important point of access and objective information to the public. When viewed along side the Center’s Parent Power Index (PPI), a state by state ranking of how well the states perform in ensuring parents have the resources necessary to best educate their children, the directory can be a powerful tool to guide parents seeking to have or improve the educational landscape for their community.

“We’ve based our 20 years of experience on the simple notion that Information is Power. The more and better educated we all are about what is currently available to citizens, the more we can do to grow expanded equity and access for kids,” said Center for Education Reform President Jeanne Allen.

In addition to the Center’s charter school directory, CER has partnered with Noodle.org, the nation’s largest search engine of schools, services and support for families seeking education solutions from birth through adulthood.

The annual National Charter Schools Week runs this year from May 5-11. Nationwide and in states, organizations are providing an unprecedented number of tools and services to help increase understanding and awareness and challenge many myths and false assumptions that often characterize many state and local debates.

Additional local and state organizations also celebrating National Charter Schools Week can be found on the Parent Power Index.

For access to additional resources or help in navigating the charter school landscape, contact CER Media Relations at 301-986-8088 or email Patrick Burke at [email protected].

Filed Under: Press Releases Tagged With: ,

National Charter Schools Week 2013

May 6, 2013 By

May 5-11 is a time to showcase achievements of charter schools in local communities (like yours!) that are working tirelessly to close achievement gaps and elevate learning across the nation. The first charter school opened 21 years ago in Minnesota, and today more than two million students are enrolled in over 6,000 charter schools across the United States.

Many organizations celebrating charter schools this week in a variety of ways. See the list below to check out other organizations celebrating charters and to find an event near you. Can’t find an event near you? Let others know about the positive role charter schools are playing in your community and communities across the U.S. — talk to your local newspaper, inform friends and neighbors, and use social media to get the word out that charter schools are improving education every day! Have your tweets be part of the conversation under hashtag #NCSW.

• National Alliance for Public Charter Schools will recognize 2013 Charter Champions on Tuesday, May 7. Charter Champion awards recognize five public officials for their outstanding service to the students, parents and families of the public charter school movement.

• Noodle.org, the nation’s largest search engine of schools, services and support for families seeking education solutions from birth through adulthood.

• Texas Charter Schools Association will celebrate NCSW with a legislative rally at the Capitol on Wednesday, May 8.

• Wisconsin Charter Schools Association to celebrate with Advocacy Day in Madison on May 9.

• Arizona Charter Schools Association – “Party on the Patio” on Friday, May 10 from 4:30-7 p.m

Filed Under: Choice & Charter Schools

New Analysis Exposes Problems in State Education Laws

May 1, 2013 By

State Charter School Commissions Limit Quality Options

CER Press Release
Washington, D.C.
May 1, 2013

A new report from The Center for Education Reform (CER) analyzes the numerous shortcomings of state charter commissions at authorizing quality charter schools.

The report, Charter School Authorizers: The Truth About State Commissions, criticizes commissions, calling them “the new education establishment of tomorrow.”

“The evidence is clear that quality charter schools are directly correlated to quality authorizers,” the analysis said. “States with multiple, independent authorizers — independent legally and managerially from existing local and state education agencies — produce more and better opportunities for students.”

“Without these critical steps, the lawmakers today will be creating the new education establishment of tomorrow, with one set of people in power, the interest of parents and educators secondary, and the future of education behind.”

CER experts praised independent authorizers in states such as Michigan and New York, in addition to the District of Columbia.

Alison Consoletti, CER Vice President of Research and the lead author of the report said, “What we’ve seen repeatedly is the inability of state commissions to approve the same amount of quality charter schools than independent authorizers who are free from excessive oversight,” Consoletti said. “More state commissions means less opportunities to expand educational choice for parents and children.”

Since 1996 the Center has studied and evaluated charter school laws based on their construction and implementation.

Filed Under: Press Releases

Charter School Authorizers: The Truth About State Commissions

May 1, 2013 By

Every few years there is a flurry of activity across the country to create or amend state charter school laws. This paper shows how and why lawmakers and policy advocates need to revisit what has become a dangerous trend in charter policy debates.

Download or print your PDF copy of Charter Authorizers: The Truth About State Commissions

Filed Under: Choice & Charter Schools

Newswire: April 30, 2013

April 30, 2013 By

Vol. 15, No. 17

SIN CITY. In 30 years, only two principals in Nevada’s Clark County School District have been fired. Could it be that the schools in Vegas are really so good that only two school leaders have ever been held accountable? Unfortunately, the answer is NO. Nevada ranks 24th on the Parent Power Index, with only 26 percent of its 4th and 8th graders reading at proficiency. And as the Nevada Public Policy Center points out, “During this same time period, CCSD has become one of the country’s worst districts.” Last week the CCSD school board announced a series of town meetings to get input from the public on selecting a new school superintendent. But before the search even started they stopped looking nationally because the education establishment has made it pretty clear they don’t want an “outsider” coming in to shake things up. But even if CCSD was able to attract a bold new reform-minded superintendent willing to take on the status quo, they most likely would not be successful in cleaning house. According to NPRI, “CCSD has a chicken-or-egg problem… The principals — management — have a union. And, therefore, dismissing a principal is a laborious process consisting of multiple hoops to jump through and a time- and paperwork-intensive appeals process.” Positively sinful.

PARENT POWER! Thank goodness we’ve got our PALs over in California working hard to combat similar issues. While a number of positive legislative efforts failed to pass earlier this year, these parents are hopeful one last modest proposal, SB 441, will secure the votes needed to bring slight changes to teacher evaluations in the Golden State. Teachers in California are evaluated every five years. Julie Collier, Executive Director and founder of PALs, points out, “If your child starts Kindergarten it is likely he/she may not have a teacher evaluated until 4th or 5th grade.” Even so, “Last year 98% of the teachers in California (that were evaluated) received the highest evaluation rating: Satisfactory.” TODAY is the deadline to weigh in, so help out our PALs and call members of the CA Senate Education Committee by 4:30pm PST.

RETREATING ON REFORM. Indiana is known as the “reformiest” state for good reason, but a measure awaiting Governor Pence’s signature is a major step back. Masked as a charter school accountability bill and supported by some of our Hoosier friends, HB 1338 threatens independence and accountability measures for Indiana’s charter school authorizers — measures that have earned the state’s charter law an A grade. The proposal, which has passed the Indiana legislature, empowers the Indiana Department of Education to have authority over the state’s authorizers that have been a model for the nation. Even if reformer Tony Bennett was still the ed chief, this is not a good precedent to set. The most reform-minded leaders can’t always control what happens under their watch when bureaucracy comes into play. Frankly, given the anti-charter and choice campaign she waged last fall, there’s no doubt that Glenda Ritz has her sights on dismantling the good reforms started by her predecessor. HB 1338 emboldens her administration to do just that.

KEEPING THE FAITH. With major efforts underway from New York to Louisiana and from North Carolina to Ohio, parents across the country are demanding the right to choose the best school for their children, including faith-based schools. On June 6, The American Center on School Choice is hosting, “Religious Schools in America: A Proud History and Perilous Future,” in Austin, TX. Click here for more information and to register for this important discussion.

THE NEW COOL. As The Center for Education Reform turns 20 and looks back at the history it has had a bird’s eye view of seeing and carrying, we invite you to join us for an intensive conversation about the original stories of reform, their founders, the lessons of the past, the battle lines, the missteps, and the victories. All the while helping us plan the next generation of reform efforts. Be sure to save October 9, 2013 on your calendar and join us to celebrate CER At 20. Click here for a sneak peek of the conference agenda, “Education Reform: Before It Was Cool.”

Filed Under: Newswire Weekly

Unions trolling for teachers in charter schools?

April 29, 2013 By

Fox & Friends
April 29, 2013

CER President Jeanne Allen discusses teachers unions’ efforts to unionize charter schools on Fox & Friends.
 

Filed Under: CER in the News

Kansas flunks school choice study

April 29, 2013 By

by Travis Perry
Kansas Watchdog
April 22, 2013

When it comes to school choice and giving parents the power to control their child’s education, Kansas earns a failing grade.

Earlier this month the Center for Education Reform released its annual Parent Power Index, which ranks and grades states based on parent choice in education. Overall Kansas earned a score of 59 percent, and ranked 42nd among the states, only outpacing West Virginia, South Dakota, Vermont, Alabama, Kentucky, Iowa, North Dakota and Nebraska.

“The Sunflower State has a less than sunny outlook for reform, making it more difficult for parents to find new and more effective options for their children,” according to the index. “Like other rural states, Kansas offers some access to digital learning modalities, but other than that, parents have few choices and few assurances that teacher quality is acceptable.

States were assessed on a number of different “elements of power,” including transparency, teacher quality and media reliability, among others. Here’s how scoring for the index worked out, according to EdReform.com:

Charter Schools and School Choice were weighted as 75% of the overall grade. Bonus points are calculated based on whether a state has a parent trigger law, and whether or not information on schools and school board elections are transparent, or available to the public. States earn .05 for having a parent trigger law and .01 each for transparency of schools and school board elections, for a possible bonus total of .07. Ties are broken based on choice implementation and how influential these categories are on affording parents true power. Bonus points of .05 were awarded to Alabama for its March 2013 passage of a tax credit law and to Washington for adopting a charter school law in Nov. 2013. Neither state has been graded on these elements as the programs are not operational to date.

While Kansas earned points for electing pro-education reform Gov. Sam Brownback, the state was docked for transparency and for having “one of the weakest charter laws in the country.”

Filed Under: CER in the News

Charter Schools Shortchanged During Recession

April 25, 2013 By

University of Arkansas
EDUCATION’S FISCAL CLIFF, REAL OR PERCEIVED?
Public Education Funding During the Economic Downturn and the Impact on Public Charter Schools
By Larry Maloney, Meagan Batdorff, Jay May & Michelle Terrell

A recent analysis by Larry Maloney published by the University of Arkansas on the inequity of public charter school funding versus their traditional public school (TPS) counterparts has been released in preliminary format with final results forthcoming. The analysis is based on data for FY ‘07 through FY ‘11 for five districts (Washington DC, Denver, Los Angeles Unified, Newark and Milwaukee), and aims to compare the parity between funding for charters versus TPS during the “Great Recession.” The numbers among all five urban districts varied, but all the research demonstrated a significant gap in per pupil funding. The report looked specifically at information based on total public funding, which includes federal, state and local funding, and funding that came from non-governmental entities.

The last funding category analyzed was “other revenue,” representing any revenue from non-public sources, including: fundraising and philanthropic gifts, investments, facilities rental, and activity fees. With the exception of Denver Public Schools (a 49.9% increase but only $914 to $1,370 per pupil), all of the other school districts took a hit in this category, but it was more pronounced for charter districts, which traditionally have had to rely more heavily on this category, particularly philanthropy, to make up the funding gap.

The initial report is eye-opening in terms of numbers, the sentiment echoes what we have known and been reporting for years with our Annual Survey of America’s Charter Schools – that charter districts receive significantly less money while doing more to close the achievement gap, especially in urban districts.

Fast Facts:

• In FY ‘11 in the District of Columbia, the traditional public schools received 43.9% more than public charter schools. DC public schools received $29,145 in per pupil funding versus $16,361 for charters, so while the percentages demonstrate a clear disparity the actual figures are even more eye opening.

• According to our charter survey (as of 2010), 80% of all charters receive less than $9,501 in per pupil funding.

• According to our survey, charters spend more per pupil than they actually receive, whereas TPS do not. Average per pupil cost for charters is $8,001 and revenue is $7,291.

• Over the period studied by the report, charters saw a more significant drop in their local and state funding than TPS. For example L.A. Unified’s funding decreased by 0.6% but L.A. charter schools’ funding dropped a much more drastic 21% from $9,085 to $7,174.

• Charter schools in the report recorded a 46.3% increase in federal funding between FY ‘07 and FY ‘11 from $1574 to $2303 per pupil.

• With regards to total federal funding, all but two of the five districts saw an increase in federal funding while TPS saw a more significant funding increase over charters. The two exceptions were Washington DC public schools and Newark charters which both saw their federal funding dip. In Los Angeles, for example, the TPS funding went up 47.5% and charters got a bump of 25%. Milwaukee was even more pronounced with TPS having a 71.7% increase and charters only 1.1%.

• Overall public charter districts in the study weathered the economic downturn, only Los Angeles and Milwaukee actually saw per pupil declines in total revenue. However there remains a significant variance in the funding that TPS get and charter districts and that gap widened in three of the five cities between FY ‘07 and FY ‘11

This report is a snapshot of a larger national study on charter school funding that will be released in 2014.

Filed Under: Choice & Charter Schools

A Nation At Risk No More — By Any Means Necessary

April 24, 2013 By

CER Media Advisory
Washington, D.C.
April 24, 2013

On Wednesday Apr. 24, Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform, issued a multi-page manifesto in which she declared the US still faces “educational malaise” 30 years after the release of A Nation at Risk that paved the way for educational reform.

Allen also recalled the “pioneers” who after A Nation at Risk enacted the first voucher programs and charter laws to overcome the unionized and bureaucratic “blob” that for so long has favored the status quo.

A Nation at Risk information and resources can be found here.

Allen is available for comment on this issue. Please call 301-986-8088 or email [email protected].

Jeanne Allen is the Founder and President of The Center for Eduction Reform, the nation’s leading advocate for substantive and structural education reforms.

“After 15 years the problems were still prevalent. Today, after 30 years, we still face educational malaise that constitutes a national security threat,” Allen said in a manifesto entitled “A Nation at Risk No More — By Any Means Necessary.”

“One would expect that the way to solve that would be to muster the smartest people in one room, even if the room overflowed to a town, even if the town needed to overflow to a community, even if the community had to overflow over state lines. But sadly, many organizations find it more profitable to boast selectively than recognize the contributions of those who came before, or those who do the work quietly on the sidelines still.”

“Indeed this week — the 30th anniversary of A Nation at Risk— should have produced a revolution of innovation and refocus on what has worked, an internal assessment of what it will take to go from 20 to 300 million people with real, actionable reform, and who’s standing in the way — on all sides. Instead, we have a few forums, and blogs, and most will go about their business as if everything is moving along swimmingly.”

Filed Under: Press Releases

A Nation At Risk No More — By Any Means Necessary: A Manifesto

April 24, 2013 By

April 26, 2013 marks the 30th Anniversary of A Nation at Risk, a report that fueled two generations of reform efforts, including milestones in school choice and accountability that have proven to have an overwhelmingly positive impact on the most disadvantaged youth and have succeeded in narrowing the equality gap. While commendable and necessary, these efforts have only begun to scratch the surface when one considers the enormous achievement problems we still have today.

Download or print PDF version of A Nation At Risk No More– By Any Means Necessary

Filed Under: Standards & Testing
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