Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) released a report on charter school performance among currently operating charter school applicants wishing to expand that you should probably read. If I had things my way, it would be required reading for every person involved in the political process in the region, but alas, I don’t.
According to publicly available data analyzed by PCCY, charter school expansion has been pretty disastrous for the city of Philadelphia, in quantitative ways. The same charter school operators who have the weakest record in serving Philadelphia children are now asking the School Reform Commission (the SRC) to approve 40 more applications for charter schools.
Philadelphia’s need for public schools as a transformative element of their community is unquestionable, as PCCY points out.
Eighty-four percent of the District’s students are low-income.”
In other words, it’s pretty important that officials get the Philadelphia education system right. The economic impact of investments in education have been well documented. According to the most recent and respected longitudinal study of the value of early investment in education in a child’s life, there is a $7.14 to $1 cost-benefit ratio. (For every dollar spent now on a young child’s education, $7.14 is saved down the road…on things like prison costs, educational remediation, economic growth due to that young adult’s professional success, not to mention a decrease in drug and alcohol abuse.)
By the way, the study I just cited was conducted in Chicago. Not only is their situation pretty comparable to Philadelphia, it’s also worth noting that they haven’t exactly been doing things right lately in their schools. The return on investment could be even greater, but we cannot afford to waste a penny, if we actually care about every single child.
As PCCY reports from state data, 60% of the applicants do not meet Pennsylvania standardized testing standards in their current schools. These Philly charters are failing at a failing rate, with only 40% meeting state performance standards.
Many of these schools that are not meeting an overall 70% benchmark aren’t even on the cusp of making it either. It’s not a situation where giving them just a little bit more time to get things right. Even if that was so, you don’t respond to a situation of failure by providing more government resources so they can use the same exact model. Some would call that insanity. PCCY documents that 48% of Philadelphia charter schools operated by current applicants have failed to get even half of their students on grade level.
Okay, so what about the charter schools that are “getting it right”? Well, they’ve figured out how to do that.
24 of the 40 charter schools in Philadelphia (60%) serve a smaller percentage of economically disadvantaged students than their public school counterparts. So the schools that are doing okay probably have this statistic to thank, but the schools that are struggling even with this clear advantage have really proven they are clueless about educating children.
21 of the 40 charter schools in Philadelphia (53%) underserve African American students in comparison to the District’s average enrollment.
25 of 40 charter schools in Philadelphia (63%) underserve Hispanic students in comparison to school district schools.
Standardized testing data and school performance profiles are of course not the entire picture when it comes to a quality public education, but if the data is being used toward perceptions of traditional public schools, the same standard should be observed for all schools receiving state, local, and federal education funding, especially if we are to put “students first”.
There is another way to examine a school’s success: retention. Did the student and his/her family decide to stay for the long term? Were they actually personally satisfied with the education they were receiving? In that Milton Friedman-esque sort of way that some like to think about the constitutional right to a public education, did the kids march their dollars right out the door again, or did they stay?
Unfortunately (or coincidentally depending on how cynical you are) this is not data that is tabulated by the School District of Philadelphia. Those who have observed trends in the School District of Philadelphia would note that although there is no official data, the retention rate in Philly charter schools, like any charter system in an impoverished area, could be much higher.
Reform suggestion #1 for all PHL mayoral candidates: Say you’ll do everything in your power and urge council to do everything in their power to start tracking that data.
I digress, but what does all of this have to do with the Philly mayoral race? I’m not particularly sure the candidates really know the practical role of Philly mayor in its education system, but boy, they sure do love talking vaguely and nonsensically about it.
These three may pull significant percentages from the real contenders on May primary day, but really have no shot. Let’s hear them out.
The PHL Blog – January 16, 2015 – Read article online