Charter high schools in Detroit not making grade - Test scores for schools often trail DPS

[Bozita]

Source: Detroit News

Last Updated: July 07. 2011 1:00AM
Charter high schools in Detroit not making grade
Test scores for schools often trail DPS students' average
Mike Wilkinson/ The Detroit News


Once touted as a solution to Detroit's public school woes, charter high schools are often doing just about as poorly — and in many cases worse — at educating students and getting them ready for college, a Detroit News analysis of recent test data shows.

Of 25 charters in Detroit or nearby, only six had higher math or science proficiency scores than Detroit Public Schools' average on the most recent Michigan Merit Exam, with most of the others doing worse than the district.

More charters did poorer in reading and writing as well; only in social studies did more charters surpass rather than trail DPS.

The results raise questions about the district's plans to authorize additional charters in its search for improvement and could also renew the debate over whether charters are the answer to the riddle of urban education, where multiple strategies are often producing the same poor results.

Read more: http://detnews.com/article/20110707/SCHOOLS/107070387/Charter-high-schools-in-Detroit-not-making-grade#ixzz1ROWH19hy

[aquart]

1. What a surprise.

Privatization is and always has been nothing but a license to steal.

[Fearless]

2. Hear that Arne??? Can you hear at all with your head so far up the corporations asses??

[boppers]

3. Not a magic bullet.... which is in the article, as well. :)

And there's this:
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Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, said research in Michigan has shown charters routinely exceed DPS on the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) tests given to children in grades three to nine.
But he said the relatively poor performance of high school students in charters raises questions. Quisenberry said students perform better the longer they are in charter schools and it's unclear how long the high school students have been in the charter school setting. "These numbers are important, and they should make us concerned," he said.
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Should know better answers to that question in a few more years..... and then there's this gem:
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"If charters do not outperform the host district, they ought not to have a charter," said Margaret Trimer-Hartley, superintendent of the University Prep Science and Math Middle School in Detroit, a charter school.
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[McCamy Taylor]

4. But...but...for profit HAS to be better.

[boppers]

7. It is, some of the time.

Which makes people cherry pick data, in an effort to prove otherwise.

[Thor_MN]

9. It certainly is when they can cherry pick students.

If for profit schools had the requirement to educate ALL students, rather than just the ones whose familes support them enough to pay, I wonder how those test scores would look?

[okieinpain]

12. thank you. n/t.

[saras]

5. And social studies at this level is usually the memorization of propaganda anyways...

[MessiahRp]

6. For reference also: Choice schools not outperforming MPS

http://www.jsonline.mobi/more/news/118820339.htm

I figure this also adds to the argument that we need to put all of our money into Public Schools... not charter schools or Voucher schools.

Rp

[LetTimmySmoke]

8. Charter schooling is the latest fad on the wane.

[annabanana]

10. . . and PLUS. .They are going to be a LOT more EXPENSIVE

than the public system.

The whole stinkin privatize-the-school-system racket is going to bite everyone not in the profit stream right in the ass.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. The conclusion implies trust in the testing process

I don't know if the test results reflect the quality of education.

Oh, well, at least it's measurable and makes for good press.

If it causes Charters to be abandoned, so much the better.

:hi: