After researching and learning about Charter Schools, I feel that if they are run by the right people with good philosophies then they can be amazing.
However, one crucial downfall of Charter Schools is that the money income is based on the success outcome. This leads to warped priorities in terms of children's needs and the sponsors-pocket needs. At Larchmont Charter elementary school, volunteering parents in hope of getting their children on the school role "would be asked not only for their time but also for money." After the school discovered a $2,500 gap per child, they not-so-subtly conveyed that that was the contribution expected of these parents. The article reads on to quote "Larchmont is a public school, but it was behaving more like a private academy."
In the end, I think that money will always be an issue when it comes to Charter Schools. If a school is not working for the good of the students attending, then there isn't much hope at all.
This cartoon almost completely sums up what the facts show about the majority of Charter Schools.
My final decision is no, I do not think that Charter Schools should be encouraged in New Zealand, at least not in the way that they have been seemingly run in America; for the profit. Money is an important part of life, but it often obscures clear and moral thinking when it becomes the most important thing.
"Money is a good servant but a bad master" - French Proverb
One thing I am constantly reminded of is the fact that Charter Schools stay open as long as the grades of the students stay up.
So what might this mean for Early Childhood teachers?
If grades are the thing keeping the school open and funded, I wouldn't be surprised if they introduced a test for new entrance children straight out of Kindergarten.
After researching further, I found that it is against the law to to have a new entrance exam. However, I did find a very interesting article on a Charter School in Bronx who were accepting children based on their academic tests. Generally, a lottery is drawn to discover what children will be attending the Charter School if there are not enough spaces available.
I was actually shocked to read the following:
"This year, parents entered their children's names in the school's lottery just as they would for any other charter school, and Academic Leadership then held a lottery. The process deviated, however, after the school sent out letters with the results of the lottery... The parents interviewed said that they were told to bring report cards and children's work from other schools. At the school, children were taken to a classroom with a reacher and asked to read a passage and do math problems... Parents said that after the tests, their children were either offered a seat at the school or the parents were told that the school would call them if something opened up."
This one example could be the start of, not only behind the scenes, but possibly upfront testing of children before accepting them into the school. For Early Childhood teachers, this could mean having the added responsibility and expectation to prepare the children to get into these schools.
If parents are wanting their child to make it into a Charter School that starts testing before accepting students, the pressure of meeting those standards will fall back on the teachers.
Is this what the future of Charter Schools looks like? Possible exams for children as young as five years just to get into a school? An unrealistic expectation for Early Childhood teachers to have children 'school ready' before they are actually 'ready for school'?
My final blog entry will discuss the conclusion I have come to in terms of being for or against Charter Schools in New Zealand.
While searching for Charter Schools legislations, I came across the Education Act and found nothing written about 'Charter Schools'. I then found a paper written by The Cabinet Social Policy Committee on developing a New Zealand model of charter schooling. This proposal came around in an effort to change the legislation around Charter Schools in New Zealand. It was also proposed that they change the name from 'Charter' to 'Partnership schools kura hourua'. I then went back to the Education Act and found a whole section relating to it. Maybe they changed the name in an attempt to make those schools more relatable to New Zealands culture?
I was surprised to find that, under school rules, the sponsor can make any rules that they believe will help manage the school. I was again baffled to discover that the sponsor has complete discretion to "control the management of the school as the sponsor thinks fit". So, who exactly is this sponsor?
After digging deeper, I found that a sponsor is approved by the minister and can be a body of people. I then began to wonder if this is the same to other schools and found that, rather than sponsors, other schools have a board which is voted in.
Part 12A of the Education Act holds further information on partnership schools kura hourua, best known as Charter schools. After reading over several points made, I came to ask myself a question.
Do some Charter Schools work better than others?
Catherine Isaac is a strong believer in Charter Schools, outlining several facts noting the proven benefits of these schools. The Cabinet Social Policy Committee comment how Charter Schools will help to reach an 85% target of 18 year olds gaining NCEA level 2.
Because charter schools have the ability to work outside of the union rules, the people running them decide how they want them to operate (CBS, 2010). Sometimes this format works, and sometimes it doesn't. For example, at one particular Charter school in the US, 95% of the students graduated, with 85% continuing on to college (Credo, 2013). But when looking more closely, they found that students grades in charter schools in science, reading, and math trailed behind their peers in the public schools (Credo, 2013).
One current issue in NZ is the gap between Māori and Pākehā achievement. It seems that with the right guidance and leadership, charter schools could be the answer to this problem. However, Professor Wally Penetito thinks otherwise, saying that "Charter schools are not the way forward for the development of education for Māori (Collins, 2013).
Collins (2013) also notes how the gap is beginning to close, Māori year 12 students gaining NCEA
level 2 rising from 63% in 2008 to 75% in 2012, without the help of charter schools.
With so many contradicting views towards charter schools in NZ, it is hard to determine whether
charter schools are the best thing. To help me decide further, I will be looking into the pedagogical
implications for practice, with a focus on Early Childhood Education and the implications that these
schools may have on it.
REFERENCES
CBS, . (2010, September 23). What is a Charter School?. In youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT8OlWa5bGo
Charter. (n.d.). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/charter
Collins, H. (2013). Education for Māori needs more than charter schools. Education Aotearoa, 4(3), 12-15.
Credo. (2013). National Charter School Study. In Credo: Center for Research on Education Outcomes. Retrieved from http://credo.stanford.edu/documents/NCSS%202013%20Final%20Draft.pdf
Banks, J. (n.d.). Developing and Implementing a New Zealand model of charter school. In Ministry of Education. Retrieved from http://www.minedu.govt.nz/~/media/MinEdu/Files/TheMinistry/PublicationsAndResources/Developing%20and%20Implementing%20a%20New%20Zealand%20Model%20of%20Charter%20School%20%20%20Cab%20Paper.pdf
Uncommon Schools. (n.d.). Frequently Asked Questions About Public, Charter Schools. In Uncommon Schools. Retrieved from http://www.uncommonschools.org/faq-what-is-charter-school
After grasping the history of charter schools, now would be a good time to familiarise oneself with the pros and cons of having them in New Zealand.
Positives
One positive side of having charter schools in NZ is that it gives more freedom of choice. In this article, Peter Lyons discusses how charter schools offer more choice for parents and also allows people without qualifications to have a good job. He also notes how charter schools provide more choice in cases of money, arguing that by incorporating a new schools system, prices will become competitive, resulting in lower-priced education (Lyons, 2015).
The ministry of education also believes that the current schooling system is leaving students "ill-equipped' to enter the workforce (Ministry of Education, n.d.). Their goal for charter schools in NZ is to "provide a class of state school that has
greater flexibility to innovate and stronger accountability than other schools" (Ministry of Education, n.d.). This will then provide more flexibility to meet the needs of the local community (Ministry of Education, n.d.). "Such schools will be accountable for their
performance to their sponsors, who will in turn be accountable to the Crown" (Ministry of Education, n.d.).
Negatives
As pointed out in this reading, charter schools are fully funded by tax payers money with little oversight to ensure the money is spent appropriately.
The post primary teachers' association (2013) is so against public schools that they continue to "fight for the abolition of the charter school
legislation" and strongly advise PPTA members "not to apply for positions in
charter schools". One school in Northland is even facing closure, with a wonder to where the $1.6 million invested has gone. John Key is totally for charter schools, saying that the schools will be closely monitored. There has been several outcries in respond to this; someone saying that "Our kids deserve trained professionals who know how to get the best out of them," and another saying "You wouldn't let an untrained doctor treat your child, or let just anyone design your house. So why do John Banks and Hekia Parata think it is okay to have untrained teachers in front of children in our schools' classrooms?" (One News, 2012).
Before I pick my side...
It is important to look at all view points, so as not to be oblivious to the facts.For example, one university's study shows the lack of success in charter schools in USA (Education Policy Response Group (EPRG), 2012). But two other studies have severely criticised it for biased weaknesses in its selection and application of statistical
methods (EPRG, 2012). One News notes several good points made by pro and anti charter school spokesmen and is definitely worth reading.
I'm now looking forward to reading up on the legislations and policies around Charter Schools in comparison to standard public and private schools.
References CBS. (2008, December 27). Pros & cons of charter schools [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w1b-8FV2qI&spfreload=10 CBS. (2010, September 23). What is a charter school [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT8OlWa5bGo&spfreload=10 Education Policy Response Group. (2012, April). In Charter Schools for New Zealand: An investigation designed to further the debate in New Zealand on education policy in general and on charter schooling in particular. Retrieved from http://www.parliament.nz/resource/0000252342
Lyons, P. (2015, January). Peter Lyons: Charter schools all about freedom of choice. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11392086 Ministry of Education. (n.d.). In NZ model of charter school working group. Retrieved from http://www.minedu.govt.nz/theMinistry/EducationInitiatives/PartnershipSchools/InfoRelease/~/media/MinEdu/Files/TheMinistry/PartnershipSchools/10TheNZModelOfCharterSchoolWorkingGroupTermsOfReference.pd New Zealand's Post Primary Teacher's Association. (2013, October 2). In Charter schools: A paper from the PPTA national Executive. Retrieved from http://ppta.org.nz/ict-docs/doc_view/1671-charter-schools One News. (2012, August 2). Key: Don't worry about unqualified teachers. In TVNZ: One News. Retrieved from http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/key-don-t-worry-unqualified-teachers-5001829
Albert Shanker came up with the idea of charter schools in 1988 in America (Carter, 2013). His original vision of supporting public schools and helping drop-out students became corrupted and in 1993, he denounced it (Carter, 2013). Less than a decade later, 'for profit' organisations took over, and the privatisation of public education began (Carter, 2013). Because of this, Charter schools became competitive (Carter, 2013).
Competitive = test results improvement or be shut down = doing work to improve test scores = students having to meet the schools new standard.
The standard became so high that Geoffrey Canada un-enrolled an entire class who were 'under performing' at a particular school (Carter, 2013).
Summary of audio reading:
This link has more information on American charter school history.
New Zealand History
The National Government agreed to opening Charter schools in 2011 (Armstrong, 2012). Considerable opposition, especially from teacher groups, arose due to these Charter schools setting their own school terms, timetables and teacher working conditions (Armstrong, 2012). Teacher unions and academics have also pointed to the failure of Charter schools in America, who are unable to lift student standards above traditional schools standards (Armstrong, 2012). Still, Catherine Isaac supported the idea, saying that Charter schools were not a "silver bullet which guaranteed disadvantaged children would lift their achievement levels" (Armstrong, 2012). However, already one of New Zealand's first Charter schools, which opened at in beginning of 2014, is on the brink of closure, with only 30 percent of students achieving NCEA Level 2, as opposed to the expected 66.9 percent. Although, this shouldn't be surprising given the fact that teachers do not need a qualification...
My thoughts summary
This history was really fascinating, yet quite contradictory to Shanker's original purpose; starting as a help based system, and changing to a money making system. Charter schools are now seemingly linked to corporatisation, which is the conversion of government assets into independent, private companies (Corporatize, n.d.). Corporatisation's are known for their interest in making money and in order for Charter schools to gain funding, they need to show good results, which sometimes result in cheating scandals. I feel that Charter schools also undermine teacher qualifications, allowing unqualified people to teach students. I wonder why the government still encourages people to pay for a degree and commit years of their lives to gain a higher education when they are also, in contrast, are endorsing Charter schools which do not require teachers who have a degree. Why then are people still paying thousands of dollars to gain a qualification if it is apparently not needed?
References:
Armstrong, J. (2012, April 21). Charter school trials to take place across the country. In The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10800485
Carter, S. (2013, May 15). In A History of Charter Schools. Retrieved from http://thechicagoschoolreviews.com/a-history-of-charter-schools/
Corporatize (n.d.). In The Free Dictionary: By Farlex. Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Corporatisation
As given away by the title, the topic I will be discussing in this entry and my future blog entires, is Charter Schools in New Zealand.
One of the main reasons why I want to delve deeper into this political issue is because, if I'm being completely honest, I don't see the negative side of having Charter schools (or the positives, really), even though I have heard a few people in my class noting how they are 'no good'.
Due to feeling slightly left out about the knowledge or understanding that apparently Charter Schools would not be / are not good for New Zealand, I have come up with four key points, or questions if you like, to help me on my road to discovery about Charter Schools and decide for myself.
•What is the difference between Charter Schools and other schooling types (what other schooling types even are there??)
•The positives and negatives of having a Charter school here in New Zealand.
•What are the different types of Charter Schools around, or are they all fairly similar?
•How may Charter schools effect early childhood settings and education in New Zealand.
Please understand that I really have no idea about any of this Charter School stuff. But hopefully, after I have looked into and answered these nagging questions I have, I will come to my own, justified, decision on whether having Charter Schools in NZ is a good or bad thing, or whether all the fuss is really for no good reason at all.
