The only thing that matches the original concept of charter schools is the use of the name “charter schools”. The original concept of charter schools didn’t include being opaque in everything they do and making a profit while keeping every aspect of their operations hidden from public view. Unionized, public school teachers were supposed to be in charge from the bottom up, not top-down autocratic CEO’s, billionaires, and hedge funds. The original concept of charter schools was based on what’s done in Finland today, and Finland’s public schools are considered the best in the world today. Why is the United States avoiding and ignoring what works best in Finland?
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/?no-ist
The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA conducted a national survey and concluded that charter schools suspend extraordinary numbers of black students and students with disabilities.
“Charter schools suspend students at a much higher rate than non-charter schools, some of which have suspension rates north of 70 percent. But a disproportionate amount of those suspensions fall on black students, who are four times more likely to be suspended than white students, and students with disabilities, who are twice as likely to be suspended as their non-disabled peers.
“Those are just some of the inequities highlighted in a blistering new analysis from researchers at the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“Notably, the data was from the 2011-2012 school year, when every one of the country’s 95,000 public schools, including charters, was required to report its discipline data.
“The report, which is the…
View original post 247 more words