FROM THE DIRECTOR:
BEYOND THE CONTROVERSIAL IN CHARTER SCHOOLS

[ walter g. secada ]


Charter schools are public schools that are freed from some state rules and regulations. They are designed from the ground up by teachers, parents, and community members to meet the needs of their particular population of students. Charter schools must specify their purpose and mission. They are held accountable for student achievement and for accomplishing their mission.

Like many earlier school-based educational innovations, the charter schools movement has experienced its share of controversy. During the fall of 1999, both Education Week and the Chronicle of Higher Education contained numerous articles focused on a controversial aspect of this movement, usually concerns about the recruitment of a diverse student population. While not denying that some people associated with individual charter schools use well-known code when talking about students -- for example, referring to "certain elements" whom they are trying to escape -- it is also true that many urban charter schools have an explicit antiracist mission or a mission to provide enhanced opportunities to students whose educations would be otherwise constrained. As evident in a cursory reading of any major newspaper, parents who live in the nation's inner cities are adamant in wanting quality educations for their children, and many of these same parents support charter schools as a means toward that end.

Charter schools have various instructional missions. While charter schools espousing basic-skills educational philosophies tend to get the lion's share of media attention, one can also find charter schools based on Dewey's ideas or on some other progressive educational philosophies. Indeed, a most illuminating incident occurred at a conference sponsored by the Comprehensive Center­Region VI when the representative of a school committed to basic-skills instruction showed ongoing interest in performance-based assessments used by another school that followed the Coalition of Essential Schools philosophy. At this same conference, a secondary school committed to innovative instruction for inner city students featured in its teaching of calculus (a very traditional course) as a vehicle for enhancing students' later-life opportunities.

At this conference, listening to representatives from charter schools with a wide range of missions, I realized that they have more in common -- including a concern for high-quality instruction -- than they have differences which get so much media attention. For example, charter schools provide an important relief valve for ongoing pressure on public schools to adopt one or another instructional approach. In addition, people who found and staff charter schools and the parents who send their children to those schools share at least a nominal commitment to a specific educational philosophy, a commitment that has placed them at odds with their local public schools.

What is more, charter schools have traded the support provided by an elaborate infrastructure for the relative autonomy and accountability that are part and parcel of their charters. Charter school personnel share the common pressures of recruiting well-prepared staff and interested students, managing a budget, and attending to the myriad administrative details of running a school. Finally, across the political and instructional spectra, charter school personnel reported being misunderstood by colleagues and parents in the public school system.

While not ignoring the differences among charter schools and the politically controversial winds that swirl around their creation, educators should realize that charter schools are, potentially, places for the development and testing of educational innovations. Charter schools face common problems that need to be solved or managed if they are to fulfill that potential. As the papers (written by our conference participants) summarized in this newsletter show, pioneer charter schools have taken some important steps in this direction. Hopefully, others will learn from their examples, avoid their mistakes, and build on their successful experiences.

The mission of the Comprehensive Center is to provide research-based technical assistance to schools that enroll large numbers of students who are eligible for services funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA): Title I Migrant Education, Title VII Bilingual Education, and Title IX American Indian Education. Through this newsletter, we hope to raise awareness about issues involving charter schools' design and implementation. People who are involved in efforts focused on the education of ESEA-eligible students may avail themselves of our services.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge Sherian Foster's contributions in editing this issue of the CC­VI newsletter and to the UW­Madison School of Education's Instructional Media Development Center, directed by Lisa Livingston, in its graphic design and layout.


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FROM THE DIRECTOR: BEYOND THE CONTROVERSIAL IN CHARTER SCHOOLS

[ about the author ]

WALTER G. SECADA is
Director of the Comprehensive
Center­Region VI and Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin­Madison.

 

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