CER Op-Eds E-Mail
CERCER Op-Ed
The Record (Bergen County, NJ), March 6, 1998
I grew up in one of the many North Jersey towns acclaimed for its public schools. My public education experience in Allendale was indeed strong. Yet even excellent schools like the ones I attended need constant care, evaluation, revamping from time to time, and yes, a little competition to spark such improvement. For what we call excellent today, clearly, is not what it used to be.
That is why recent criticisms of charter schools from such well-respected school boards and administrators in towns like Ridgewood, Fair Lawn, and Teaneck are so puzzling. Charter schools are public schools that are opened by parents, teachers, and civic groups.
Children can choose to go there. While we all have a fear of the unknown, a quick review of statistics regarding charter schools should enable the most un-policy savvy person to recognize the enormous contribution to public education that charter schools are playing.
Unless we assume that there is a one-size-fits-all solution for every child, that each of our children should be treated and served in the identical manner with the identical sorts of tools, then we can't possibly believe there is no room for innovation, change, and some additional schools as options for struggling, average, and under-challenged students.
The other important dimension that charter schools address, that public school officials seem to overlook, is that despite an enormous amount of money invested, and tremendous effort and wisdom on the part of our teachers and citizens, U.S. achievement has been lagging for nearly 20 years.
No matter what figures one uses, when you look at the total picture SATs, national assessments, college entry rates, or international comparisons, American children are not challenged enough. Far too many children are the victims of dumbed-down curricula over which most teachers and administrators have little control.
That is why it is so sad to hear of seething criticism of well-crafted and very much in-demand charter schools. It is as if the message to parents is,"You can only have the kind of schools we want to offer, not those you might believe would be best for your children." Where has the wonderful sense of responsiveness and innovation gone that once so characterized the more progressive parts of New Jersey?
Where is that never-ending concern for doing better and better all the time that I once learned? If New Jersey officials are resting on their laurels, it won't take long before even the better schools fall victim to the nation's"rising tide of mediocrity." Given the recent flurry of events, this may already have occurred.
Residents in New Jersey now have the opportunity to challenge stagnant notions of what connotes quality in education as a result of bipartisan and courageous leadership from Trenton and elsewhere around the country. Charter schools give communities the freedom to implement dreams, as one charter teacher once said.
Consider the Parker Core Knowledge Charter School in Colorado, where third graders posted the highest combined reading and math scores on standardized tests of 23 elementary schools in their county. Parker's third graders hit the 94th percentile in math. Consider any of the nearly 800 charter schools operating in 24 states this year that are providing more than 160,000 children with an education that suits them better than what they had before.
I remember very well a boy named Tommy when I went to school. Tommy was a"trouble-maker."Always fighting, getting everyone at school and home mad at him. Here we were in this really nice school, with really nice kids, and really nice grades, and Tommy just didn't fit. He moved later, after being kicked out a few times, and I understand he never amounted to much. I often wonder what would have happened if Tommy could have chosen his own environment, one more conducive to his needs. Tommy was very smart, but no one saw that beyond his rough-and-tumble act. And yet today, thousands of Tommys are in school thanks to charters.
Charter schools are not a threat, they are a wonderful addition to traditional public schools. Enlightened New Jerseyans should look beyond the protective rhetoric that guards the status quo, and embrace those charter schools that come to their towns.
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Jeanne Allen is president of The Center for Education Reform, an independent, non-profit group providing support to individuals seeking school reform. For more information, please call (202) 822-9000 or (800) 521-2118, or send e-mail to cer@edreform.com.