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Monday, March 26, 2012

“Chartering Equity” | The G Bitch Spot

“Chartering Equity” | The G Bitch Spot:


“Chartering Equity”

Mead, Julie, and Preston Green. Chartering Equity: Using Charter School Legislation and Policy to Advance Equal Educational Opportunity. National Education Policy Center, U. of Colorado, Feb. 21, 2012. PDF.
Charter schools are not panaceas—they can expand educational options or replicate current ones, do better or worse than traditional schools, and alone cannot solve all, or most, educational issues like racial disparities, poverty, paper-thin budgets, etc. One thing I do not believe was part of the charterization monologue about NO was this issue of “equity,” beyond the flawed assumption that charter schools offer lower-income parents the same type of “choice” that upper-income parents exercise when they move their children, and tuition money, from one private school to another. In practice, this is questionable.
This is not a cri de couer of disgruntled or offended parents or academics and mostly offers recommendations that states or charter authorizers can use if they choose to use charter schools to improve educational opportunities and to desegregate public schools. It assumes that charter schools are part of the fabric of