What a surprise! An organization which favors a proliferation of charters doesn't like it that Maryland has so few, despite the fact that only 17% of all charters show better results than the public schools with which they compete. That means that 83% of all charters are no better than, or indeed worse, than comparable public schools.
According to Education Week, Maryland's public schools are Number 1 in the nation, and have been for two years running. Why tamper with success? Studies show that 37% of charters are worse than the public schools which they would replace. In the worst cases, they have been plagued by incompetence, corruption and self-dealing by the charter school officials. Why take the risk that the charters would take us backwards rather than forwards?
The more charter schools there are, the higher transportation costs would be, as charters must draw from a wider geographic area than public schools. We don't need this added to our budget woes.
The public should know that charter school advocates continue to advocate for changes in the law which would make them more and more like private schools. They want to be able to select their students on various criteria which would have the effect of allowing them to accept students who are high-achieving in the first place. They already have available a number of ways to encourage disruptive or low-achieving students to transfer back to the public schools, such as announcing that such students will not be promoted to the next grade.
Maryland law allows local boards of education to decide if they want a charter school startup or not. Those boards of education are in many jursidictions elected by the voters. If the citizenry wants more charters, they can elect people to boards of education who favor them. Apparently, in most places, they have not

Or maybe it should be consider a success that the state did not cave in (yet) to external pressures to adopt an unproved course of action. A success rate of 20% does not sound like something we should hang our hats on.

Also the statement: "the work to create great schools for all parents who want them for their children" - kind of undermines success for all?

And just to mention that the districts that got A's are embroiled in turmoil and confusion.

I read the report, and it seems to assign the best grades to jurisdictions where charters schools have the most freedom from traditional school board authority and equal funding. However, I don't see where they evaluate oversight of charter schools.. This seems to be a major flaw in their criteria.

I'm with Alan on this one. Why is it a good thing to "not require adherance to oversight?"

I also am alarmed that reformists seem to be so excited about weakening the power of school boards. Isn't this our democratic apparatus? Without school boards, what power will communities have over our schools?

@jrsposter

Allow me to correct your errors and misinformation.

If charter schools wanting to run their school they way the staff, founders, parents, students and community want it to be run makes this statement true: "The public should know that charter school advocates continue to advocate for changes in the law which would make them more and more like private schools" then so be it. The biggest difference people need to realize...1. charter schools do not charge tuition so ANYBODY can attend. we do not limit our student body to those who can afford a quality education. 2. we provide special ed services, usually at a higher quality 3. the parents have a voice in their childs education that is heard, respected and listened to. There is no dictatorship or one ruling body over the school. Everyone invested in these children collaborate together for whats best for the child.

Why would transportation costs go up? Parents provide their own transportation to our charter school via driving their children, car pooling or public transportation?

And have you even looked at the philosophies of Baltimore Charter schools? They range from being focused on inclusion, to language immersion, to focused on children with behavior problems. These do not sound like schools who want "to select their students on various criteria which would have the effect of allowing them to accept students who are high-achieving " The enrollment process is overseen by outside groups and very transparent to the public. My feeling from many charter schools is that they want to reach out to those students who are not being properly served and are slipping through the cracks or pushed through the system as much as the supposed "high achieving student."

We hold a parent/teacher conference at the end of each trimester to discuss a child's progress. You will never see in that meeting the "encouragement of disruptive or low-achieving students to transfer back to the public schools, (by) announcing that such students will not be promoted to the next grade."

Every year we have over 500 people apply for our school which can only enroll 200. We have an amazing small amount of students transfer out and those that do usually are moving out of state and hate that they have to leave. Parents base living in the city on whether they get offered a spot in our school.

I would love to see it put to a vote. There would be an overwelming support for more and more charters!!!

I am so sick of people who throw out their thoughts and beliefs as fact. Please check yourself before you wrongly influence other people's ideas.

@Giver - It would have more truthful if you named your school. And hopefully you can admit that not all schools charter or non-charter are (for the lack of a better word) equal. So your truth may not be a universal truth.

I am glad to see that your school is doing well but also wonder if it maintains a false economy (and a false sense of security) by not expanding its enrollment. When your school and its program can take all comers and still maintain a level of success, then many will rest assured that this is a worthy experiment.

Until then, what I think I see is a movement that is being spearheaded by foundations that would look to tap into a national trillion dollar enterprise and uses some of the neediest citizens as justification for siphoning off the public trough. As a taxpayer, I am concerned about any entity who asks for hundreds of thousand, if not millions of taxpayer dollars, demands no oversight and request that they only be held accountable for self determined outcomes. There are already examples where this recipe has gone terribly wrong.
So let’s be truthful… charters are the latest manifestation of the ME generation. Private school parents are more truthful with their intentions. They want the best (?) for their children and are willing to pay for it. What is your motivation for doing what you do? Visit the school that child would have attended, commit to the same level of engagement and see if you can move that school forward in a positive direction. If you are successful, then there would be no need this other option.

@OTT -
You say "Visit the school that child would have attended, commit to the same level of engagement and see if you can move that school forward in a positive direction"

Why do you assume that's not where "Giver's" child went before jumping ship and going to a charter school? Certainly the comment about "dictatorship" indicates some personal experience with trying to be involved and being rebuffed. My experience is that more than a few neighborhood schools like the concept of involved parents, but when it comes to explaining decisions and listening to problems and exhibiting flexibility they fall way short of ideal, or what I think is typical of charter schools.

Once you have hit a brick wall in trying to be involved and solving problems, if you have any alternatives at all, you move on to a different school.

Don't think that this is some sort of rare occurrence. If you talk to involved parents across the school system you will see it's pretty darn typical. Apathetic and uninvolved parents will stay in these schools, but everybody else will see the futility of staying put and trying harder. Bullied kids, kids not getting services, kids not getting G&T programs...a parent would be doing them an incredible dis-service not to move on.

@ AP - are you stalking me?
Nowhere did I comment on Giver moving her/his child. I fully understand that motivation. My suggestion was that there still should be some effort by those who know (or think they know) to help their community. I volunteer at a soup kitchen but I do my best to make sure that my family never has to use its services. Motivation, helping those who need it the most instead of hiding in a cave.

@OTT - What I do is obsessively read this board and comments and respond to inaccurate, misleading or false statements in terms of the experiences I have had over the last 12 years that I've been a parent of student(s) in Baltimore City's public schools. It just so happens that you produce much that falls into that category. Sorry if it seems like I have been "stalking" you.

First I do not believe I am being less true by not naming my school but if that is what is being asked, my personal involvement is with the City Neighbors Schools.

We have a limited enrollment based on the philosophy of our school: small class size and better staff to student ratio. Our solution to the growing interest in our school was to open a 2nd school, City Neighbors Hamilton and then to answer the call for parents of high school students who want to continue with the City Neighbors mission, we opened City Neighbors High School.

I am not sure what jaded you so badly to have the opinion that what you see "is a movement that is being spearheaded by foundations that would look to tap into a national trillion dollar enterprise and uses some of the neediest citizens as justification for siphoning off the public trough" What I see is parents, community, staff and students working together to create a great learning environment which has proved it works! We are a school that not only has more oversight than most traditional schools but also is held more accountable than most traditional schools. Charter schools are given a certain amount of years to prove that it can succeed before being fully renewed for another 5 years (that is the max renewal time given by BCPSS), renewed for less than 5 years, or closed. Tell me about the renewal process for traditional schools? How long can a traditional school be failing before it is shut down? 5 years? 10 years? More? And what defines them as “failing?”

“Private school parents are more truthful with their intentions. They want the best (?) for their children and are willing to pay for it." So you are telling me that only parents who can PAY for the best should receive the best? That is the only way a child can receive a quality education? That almost makes me speechless.

Our parents, staff, and board are quite clear about our intentions. We are here to give the students of Baltimore city the best education we can possibly give. Our board members are made up of parents, community members, staff and a student rep. None of these people are paid to be on the board. Their motivation is not money like I believe you are implying. Is it really that hard for you to believe that people purely want to do what is right for the students? They are exactly the opposite of the "ME generation" They are the "for the children" generation.

I am delighted to serve all children no matter what their circumstances are;
the children of the parents who on their Monday off from work come to school and help to put the weekly newsletter together;
the children of parents who come on Saturday to handle building repairs and upkeep and cleaning.
The children of the fundraising committee who work hard all year to earn more money for our school to help pay for the great opportunities and people we have in our building. The children of parents on the advocacy committee who campaign hard for equal funding and great education for all children.
The children of parents on the greening committee who lead recycling campaigns, plant a bog garden, and build rain barrels.
The parent who hosts an after school club/enrichment opportunity for student.
And the children of the parent who is working 3 jobs, has 3 hours of sleep a night, not a dime in their bank account but do their best to get their kids to school on time, attend parent teacher conferences and in that rare moment of free time, bake cookies for the class bake sale.
And I do my best to serve the children of the parent who is hard to schedule for a conference and rarely volunteers at the school, to show that parent that their time and gifts are what make this school such an amazing and successful place.

A common phrase I hear around here is “each to the best of their ability.” That is what we expect from our students, staff, board and parents.

If all Baltimore City parents are engaged and active in their children’s school career, collaborating with the teachers and staff of that school, then yes, there will be success. But I agree with AP “when it comes to explaining decisions and listening to problems and exhibiting flexibility they (schools) fall way short of ideal, or what I think is typical of charter schools”

I think you need to stop fighting against charter schools and what you misunderstand them to represent and practice and realize the good intentions and success of schools that decide not to do things the way they always have been done and in the same old cookie cutter fashion. Our mission is tied to the needs of the families in our communities.

Congrats to you that can help at a soup kitchen but do not need the services. More congrats to the family who volunteers at the soup kitchen but ALSO utilizes its services. Isn’t that the most ideal situation? Volunteering to help with a service that benefits you as well?

@ AP & Giver - One of the things that I find true folly in is the thin skin of some of the charter believers and I do take some pleasure in poking them. I am among those who believe that some are doing extra-ordinary things and having some success and that to lump them together and state that all are good (or bad) is misguided. What I find truly interesting is the inability of some to answer to criticisms. To paint anyone who questions with the "charter hater" brush. This does not lead to meaningful discussion but more so, the dart throwing that we all do from time to time on this blog.

But, I also THINK (not sure) that some of the believers have blinders to the damage that is being done. You state all the good things that are happening at your school(s) but that could come at someone else's peril. My problem is that the few charter advocates that I have had sane conversions with seem to be all right with that. They overlook the FACT that the system as a whole is still woefully under-resourced and now has more schools then when the state mandated closures because the system was severely under capacity. This condition makes many of the schools ineligible for state and federal facilities funding that charters are now starting to lobby to acquire. Review any of the previous blogs about Fair Student Funding and you will quickly see the damage done and that policy was the direct result of threaten lawsuits by among others, your school.

As for the privatization of public education, do a quick scan of the charter/transformation horizon and you start to see the McCharters that have gained a foothold in DC, New York, Florida, California, Texas and Minnesota? Many of which are run by for-profit entities and are having real issues with finanical management and academic progress. Read the current debate on for-profit private colleges and their campaign to keep governmental funding in spite of huge drop-out and failure rates and you can quickly find parallels in the charter/transformation campaign. This is also part of my hesitation to jump the charter broom.

So to paraphrase AAA, so why do we pay so much attention to a movement the barely serves 10% of the student population? Is it because some are so vested in this effort and they truly believe that this is the primary solution that they are willing to vigorously defend it against ANY critical observations and shove it down the throats of innocent bystanders? At a time when "social" experts are sounding the alert that the current reform movement downplays the affects of demographics and puts forward the false assertion that 100% success is possible, do we not listen? Do we also ignore it when historians highlight the similarity to the current charter/transformation movement and what occurred right after Brown vs The Board? This started as a grass roots, bottom –up movement and has been perverted into a mandated top-down mission and rarely in the history of this country has this type of policy worked out for the poorly represented in this country. Education reform is much like the mythical Hydra and cannot be defeated with a singular method of attack. And that is a truth.

I am really troubled when I observe the academic and behavior guidelines that Charter Schools are able to maintain and the low performances and behavior that public teachers must endure.
I would not encourage anyone who loves teaching to enter a public school in Baltimor City. It is amazing to see how students can disturb instruction, curse staff and students, etc. Its' the teachers fault and she is being held accountable for babysitting animals who many are just being babysitted until they are incarcirated. Sad but true. If you can not follow rules at ten you will not follow them at 16.

The original post was about the system for grading states on their inclusion of charter schools. I think the original criticisms were that states that had less oversight had higher grades than those that had more, and that some of the high grades actually seemed to be for things that would corrode public education. Why is it wrong to be worried about this? The original intention of charter schools was wonderful. But the intention does not always bear out in fact, and it is important that we be vigilant in good analysis of data such as this.

@giver of true facts: Your particular charter school may indeed be wonderful. However, many charter schools DO limit student attendance through subtle and not so subtle 'creaming.' Requiring parents to volunteer, or having long entrance applications with long essays for both parents and students to fill out automatically prevents a family that cannot do this from applying. This results in a school population that automatically has higher parent involvement than your average public school.

In Baltimore, Innovation Schools, which have many of the same freedoms as Charter schools, but are still public schools, get half the funding per student.

One advantage that Innovation Schools have over Charters, is that they pay a flat rate for teachers. Charters have to pay the real cost of each teacher, which means that teachers with more experience cost a lot more for a Charter. This means that it is in a Charter's financial interest to hire teachers with less experience. This subtly favors younger teachers over older teachers.

Not all charters give parents a voice in their child's education. In fact, one recent parent complaint I heard about a local charter was that when the parent complained, they were told they could 'go find a different school if they don't like it.'

There may not be a dictatorship in your school, but the fact is that a charter is ruled not by the school board but by an outside board of directors not beholden to the community. They can DECIDE to be beholden, but that's not a power the community has. This is not to say public schools are better in this regard-- currently our school board is not elected, and parent voice in any aspect of their children's education is minimal. In my opinion, public schools need democratization far more urgently than public school systems need more charter schools.

But back to the report-- the grades should favor a community voice in the way schools are shaped, and clear guards against corruption. The grades were higher for LESS oversight and LESS public participation. How is that good?

It's been some time since I've tried to read one sentence that equaled a long paragraph. I didn't do too well. Could it have been my schooling?

My age in mind, I doubt it.

Where does this country rate on the international grading scales?