Charter+School+Reading

Tough questions about charters worth pondering as we take steps forward to becoming one.
//We want to make Seton an equitable environment for all students in our community. We want to do things the KC public schools are not nimble enough to do, but we do not want to hamper them either. Innovation is easier in charter environments because of the freedom, but we want to share what is positive and replicable about meeting all of our community's kids where they are and teaching them to be successful citzens. I've started posting article bits and links with Seton-centered questions for ourselves. Post anything about charters and education reform you find relevant to our mission of becoming a beacon for change!//

Diane Ravitch has worked for NAESP, the DoE, and is now a distinguished professor at NYU in education. She was part of the team that crafted the NCLB legislation, but has since has a dramatic and complete change of heart. She writes in detail about the negative effects of standardized testing, high-stakes schooling, and the affects on America. Read her latest article: [|The Myth of Charter Schools] and take the criticisms to heart. What will WE be like as a charter? A partner with KCMO or an adversary?

How can we avoid "creaming" and truly serve our community at Seton? Read Larry Ferlazzo's post on charters.

Exploring the contentious issue of charter schools in America. How can Seton learn from this twenty-year-old movement? Read **//Keeping// //the Promise: The Debate Over Charter Schools//** How will Seton uphold the values of equity, access, public education goals, ownership, and removing bureaucratic constraint? Linda Darling-Hammond suggests that "[successful charters] focus specifically on the idea of innovation and //public purpose//, leaving the reader with a strong sense of the important role of public schools for our future."

Are charters like KIPP an "educational panacea for social reform" or a crucial but un-replicable step toward something better in public education? @http://www.slate.com/id/2214253/pagenum/all/ How can we be sure Seton won't end up skimming kids already positioned to do well and leaving outliers to the dumping ground that we once were?

I had the chance to interview Geoffrey Canada (of Harlem Children's Zone) last year at the ASCD conference in San Antonio. Being new to the education scene, I didn't know who he was and chose to interview Robert Marzano instead. Then, when I got home I saw this on TV:

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"[Canada's] goal for the Zone is on a totally different scale. Instead of trying to reach the lucky few and extricate them from the ghetto, he wants to reach all children (and their families) where they live, in every aspect of their lives, in order to boost student achievement across the board."

It's an incredible story and I can't wait to read his book. His charter efforts are tied not just to education, but to the whole community. I think has a chan ce to make a similar effort.

I posted this discussion on my Facebook page as well and heard from some educator friends. Taylor is a friend from high school, J.D. from U Maryland, MAT from Johns Hopkins, and Teach for America alum (she's pretty cool). Mary Beth is a technology director from Philadelphia and a super educator. Here's what they had to say.

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 * KC Star editorial on Charters/the District:**

" The study recommended that charter schools be part of an integrated education reform effort. That sounds good on paper but will require overcoming a longstanding adversarial relationship between the charters and the school district.

Read more: [] "

What can we learn from the current US vs THEM attitude of Charters vs Public in films like The Lottery? http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/what-gandhi-would-think-about.html