Charter School Controversy

The challenge of boosting student performance in low-income inner-city schools remains. As Byron Pitts tells us, while many experts believe charter schools are the answer, opponents disagree.

[@christophermills9289]

You know I see a pattern of YT videos on Charter schools with the comments turned off. This story is from 2010. "Teachers are not protected by the union and are held to standards of student performance" and "Students have to compete to get in"

[@CB-hk7hy]

We pay taxes too! The No Child Left Behind Act didn't help my child. I did not want to leave our district but it truely was hopeless. Charter schools bring hope for options. That is what parents are looking for "hope in good quality sensible education" Not all public charter schools are good, and not all brick and mortar public schools are good. The difference with charters schools is they get shut down for not performing and parents leave if they are not getting good results. Brick and Mortar schools keep on going at the expense of students education. They get stuck with bad teachers and the school has no control over that because of the teacher unions. Charters can fire teachers on the spot. Charters also teach for 30% less than districts. If district schools could self manage without such rigid state mandates and also have more control of who should stay and go I think it would go a long way to helping repair a broken system. I think all schools have great teachers in them, and they also have bad ones including at charters. My son had a social studies teacher in his brick and mortar middle school and I loved him and wished all his teachers could have been like him. If they had we probably would have stayed. Charters get to self manage (privately run themselves) to a point--that was the main purpose of starting them. It was an experiment to see if they could do a better job with less regulation from the state and government. Some have and some have not. What is clear is that it created competition and parents started to leave districts in great numbers to go to these schools, because they had a choice and that choice offered hope. If the parent thinks it was a poorly made choice they can go back to their district, or find another charter school or go to a private school. When charters were not an option in the mid 90's a parents choice was to put up and shut up, move to a neigbborhood where a district performs better, or send to a private school. There is no question that transparency and accountability are important things to keep a watchful eye on in charter schools, but I would also say the same for the brick and mortar public schools too. Honestly I think the main goal of districts should be to get so good at educating that no one wants to leave and so good that students want to return them. I do believe public charters have their place as well for a variety of reasons. Children do benefit greatly from this style of education. What I wish is that districts and charters would work together for the common goal of providing a better education for students. Unfortunately right from the beginning charters were set up to put a squeeze on districts to improve, so as you can see there is dissention between them. This has created a divide between these to styles of education. Just a note that even before charters came about even though districts got more money (funding) to help improve student performance, student performance wound up staying the same and in some schools it went down. More money does not mean a better education. Better teachers and less fluff is what improves performance and improves education.

[@debbiestern3922]

Is there a ranking list of all the charter schools? I would love to see where PALCS ranked!

[@amberled]

Great story! I want to be a charter school teacher someday!

[@shazt16]

To say that all charters are privately run is a mis-nomer. There are private management companies that run charter schools; however, not all are run that way. A charter school is an option for parents whose students are not being served by their local public school.

[@Poptartza]

Respond to this video... (Continued) because their child was failing; my teacher showed the parent their child's grades, and they didn't do a single assignment. My teacher told them that they should be more on top of their child's school work, and the parent got even angrier saying it was a teachers' job to do that.

[@Darusdei]

Yes the big bad government. We have public schools in Finland too. Last time the they were ranked #1 in the world.

[@Poptartza]

@fitnesschaser01 it's not the parents job to teach, it's the parents job to make sure their is doing their homework, and other assignments. In my high school you got full credit for just doing the homework and showing effort. That kid did neither.

[@thebestsumoeva]

@Rbascomb Public school = government subsidized monopoly, whats your point? In a voucher system you get to choose which school you send your child to after all you did pay for their tuition through taxes.

[@thebestsumoeva]

@Americathebrave100 The great thing about charter schools is you don't have to send your kid there if you don't want so if your racist statement against Turkish people is accurate you can still choose to send your child to an under performing public school. If they are so bad why are parents in a wait list of 40,000 to send their kids?

[@Poptartza]

@Darusdei I'm curious, what would you say is the amount of parent involvement in the public schools in Finland? From what I see the way a parent is involved in a child's education reflects how the child does in school in many cases. Also, some parents believe that it's the teacher's responsibility to make sure a student does their assignments. Example, when I was in high school I stayed after school for extra help in biology; Someone's parent barged in at started yelling at the teacher cont.

[@Audiogeek-kf2ez]

Public schools can be better for for some. But it depends on if the government mandates certain programs or have unfunded mandates. . Schools are getting to be big money , sports orientated(recruiting from other schools) it is a crazy way to teaches children out there.

[@trpoihgg]

i came here because of miles morales.... thank u brian bendis

[@poolopis01]

@Darusdei Cool story bro. We have awesome universities here in America, the level where it actually matters. Last time they were ranked #1 in the world.

[@Darusdei]

@HoGraz not sure for what, but thanks i guess :D

[@Eddiemundo94]

the blured school is my school wow lol

[@williamworsham3175]

Charters really are not better.....so whatever. But the bottom line is the measures of "accountability" are incorrect.