From IALA’s standpoint, this is an overdue but welcome affirmation of our position that all students should have a choice of distinctively different programs.

From their site: Options basically fall into two categories. First are schools of choice, all schools that aren’t regular public schools—magnet, private, charter, homeschools. In the U.S., there are about 133,000 schools; of those, about 40,000, or one third, are schools of choice. Second are choice programs, like open enrollment, school transfer options, vouchers, and tax credits. Currently, 47 states have some kind of open enrollment policy; all 50 have the school transfer option under No Child Left Behind, 9 states offer public or privately-funded vouchers, and 7 states offer tax credits.

Two major criticisms of these studies have been made aside from their conflicting findings. One regards a definition of charter schools. Are we talking about innovative charter schools vs. those following traditional approaches, charter schools in their first few years vs. well-established ones, charter schools with mostly beginning teachers, schools serving mostly at-risk students, etc.? One may as well say parochial schools achieve better than public schools; that would dismissed as making an incomplete and unwarranted comparison.

The second major criticism of charter school studies regards a level playing field on finances. Repeated studies by Ball State University show that in all states, charter schools receive fewer revenues and in many states substantially fewer revenues–on the order of 20 percent less revenue. This factor also makes student achievement comparisons suspect and unfortunately is rarely mentioned or factored in. The study, Charter School Funding: Inequity Persists updates an earlier study which also found a considerable difference in the resources available to charter schools as compared to district schools in the same locales.

People want to know about this major reform effort, charter schools and its degree of success. Once again, the complexity of valid research rears its annoying head. I, for one, want to see charter schools actually depart from conventional practices. That is the primary purpose of charter school statutes! My observation and experience with charter schools from the earliest years show that the majority of charter schools reconstitute the conventional school. A small percentage, perhaps 30 percent, (my estimate) pioneer different approaches to education. Those interesting schools have much to teach us about learning and the results for producing responsible citizenship, productive careers and lifelong learning. How about research along these lines rather than the repeated flawed and unhelpful existing studies?

Registration: https://www.bsu.edu/webapps2/see/

We’ve addressed online learning as the fastest growing section for education change in past entries. You can access this topic by searching our previous entries.

The U.S. Dept. of Education produced Evaluating Online Learning: Challenges and Strategies for Success to address the challenge of meeting diverse needs of online learners and how to assess their learning. This 80 page guide (free online) delves into the technical aspects of data gathering and organizing information for arriving at both formative and summative conclusions about program effectiveness using real school examples.

The Governor will attempt the legislation in January, 2009 with the aim of opening schools by fall, 2009 and 40 within four years. “Readiness schools would be allowed to deviate from state curriculum guidelines and experiment with teaching practices.” The schools would be a choice for parents, students and staff.

This kind of innovation typifies the ferment and impatience about over-regulated schools and the difficulty of reform efforts.

This finding affirms the mission of IALA: to lead, promote and support learning alternatives in education.

Their website contains a host of other information including state by state ranking of charter school laws and other general education reform news and policy information.

Another approach to providing choices is that taken by the Mapleton School District near Denver.The school district’s motto is to give parents the maximum choice, and let them choose the style that’s best for their children. This 5,500 student district now has 17 distinct programs. For example, a single high school has been replaced by seven schools. Another example of this trend is the Appleton Public Schools (Wisconsin) a small district which offers 13 unique choices.

The times are changing. More students are being given choices of educational models to fit their needs. The day will come when every child has learning alternatives!

UPDATE JUNE, 2008: The Georgia State Board of Education approved 3 entire districts and all of their schools as charter districts: the Decatur, Marietta and Gainesville school districts.

The report indicates that charters are showing some progress: continued growth, improved governance and safety, and more experimentation when authorized by agencies other than school districts. The report makes specific recommendations for improved policy, including the idea of

Charter laws: 40 states have adopted the charter concept. These vary from strong laws with a high degree of program autonomy to weak laws where the charter school has almost no power to decide anything.

Open enrollment: 42 states give some form of a choice for which school or school district to attend. Some of the statutes provide for voluntary participation by districts and some give the decision totally to the parent.

Vouchers: 6 states have voucher laws usually for a city within the state to have a student

An excellent 11 minute video segment from Edutopia provides a look at how it works in various settings.