Should charter schools be allowed to have barriers to admission? |
"I thought I could do it," explained Marlena Johnson, a parent who failed to complete the application process. "I knew the dogs would be tough but what I didn't count on was that movie. I fell asleep ten minutes into it."
Does cherry-picking students lead to higher test scores? |
"These barriers to admission are a disgrace. More people got around the Berlin Wall than manage to get into these charter schools," complained Jerry T. Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. "And then people want to know why those schools perform better on standardized tests. It's because they rig the system - cherry-picking students."
Asked to explain why the process to get into a so-called public charter school was so difficult, Global's founder and Chief Executive Officer Ronald Mulla had this to say, "We stand by our application process. After all, it's called 'school-choice' for a reason. Our school is merely choosing which students are admitted."
Meanwhile just down the street from Global sits Andrew Jackson Elementary a real public school. It requires just three things before admitting a student: proof of address, age and vaccinations. "Basically we take everyone who comes through the door. We believe it's what public education is meant to do," said naive principal Mike Larts. Asked if he thought the application process might in some part be responsible for Global besting his students on last year's state exams, Mr. Larts shook his head, "I don't know, but it sure is hard to win the beauty contest when you've got all the ugly kids."
Reality Alert:
Interested in how we came to write this? Go to: Special Report: Class Struggle - How Charter Schools Get Students They Want and Green Woods Charter School and Others In Philadelphia Boast Questionable Application Processes
Imagine two team captains picking players for a basketball game. One captain says, "I get to pick the best five players in this gym right now."
ReplyDeleteThe other captain has to go out into the street and pick the first five people who walk past.
You get a slightly different result.
Wow. I couldn't have said it better.
ReplyDeleteIt really is difficult to separate the reality from the satire.
ReplyDelete... and that in a nutshell summarizes the state of education in America: It is really difficult to separate the reality from the satire.
ReplyDeleteThis is stupid. Most charter schools are desperate for pupils, because without pupils, they won't survive financially. Not even the most luridly dishonest person could pretend that most charter schools make it difficult for kids to enter.
ReplyDeleteSpend some time reading the Reuters and Huffington Post articles (We provided links to them at bottom of our piece). It is the charter schools that are "luridly dishonest."
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