CER News Alert

PBS to Air "Charter Schools That Work"

CER Friends:

        PBS will be airing an hour-long documentary, "Charter Schools that Work," in late September. CER worked with the Corporation for Educational Radio and Television (CERT) on this production. The scheduled air date is September 29th at 10:30 pm (EDT). As you know, local stations have some flexibility in air date/time. You are urged to call your local station and inquire as to when they will air "Charter Schools that Work" and encourage them to go for an earlier time. Some markets have the flexibility to air it earlier -- one market not only is airing it in the first part of that week, but at the much more desirable 8:00 pm. (Click here for current local listings. To find PBS stations in your area, go to the PBS Local Listing Tool.)

    As this type of programming decision is made far in advance, we don't have much time in possibly changing the timing of any airing of the production. Your quick action this week would be appreciated. Feel free to contact CER with any questions. Call us at (800) 521-2118. You can email us at cer@edreform.com.

Following is a description of the documentary "Charter Schools That Work" provided by its producers:

        More than fifteen years have passed since the national report, A Nation at Risk, told us of a rising tide of mediocrity in public education. Since then, many schools have worked hard to improve, but many others continue to struggle. Today, public schools continue to receive funds and teachers continue to receive pay increases regardless of students' performance.

        "Charter Schools That Work" explores a grassroots movement with an innovative solution to some of the problems facing America's public schools. In this video essay, Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune, visits several charter schools and reports on how well they are working. The program airs nationally on PBS Friday, September 29th, 2000 at 10:30p.m. ET. Click here for an updated listing of local times and airdates.

        The charter school movement began in 1992 with only one school, but has since grown to nearly 1,700 schools serving more than 350,000 students in 37 states. These are public schools, but they receive a charter from the local school board or some other public entity to which they are accountable. If the school's achievement goals are not met, the charter is revoked and the school is shut down. In fact, some charter schools have already closed, but those currently in operation are lauded by students, educators, and parents across the country.

        "I was coming from what looked like zero for the children and for me," says Andrew Fryer, co-founder of North Star Academy in Newark, New Jersey. "I had already seen twenty years of failure. When you are in that position you really have nothing to be afraid of." Fryer and his co-founders turned away from Newark's district public school system to create a new type of public school, founded on the belief that a sense of community and shared culture is a vital basis for high academic performance. North Star is a non-elitist "choice school" to which all students are welcome so long as they agree to abide by the school's core values. If more students apply than the school is able to accommodate, their applications are placed in a non-biased lottery.

        North Star Academy, according co-founder and school co-director Norman Atkins, is "strict in its discipline and yet caring." Student uniforms, small classes, and rituals such as a morning drum roll help foster a sense of community. Most significant in this regard, however, is the close relationship between students and teachers.

        "The teachers, they're just exciting," Deborah, a North Star student, remarks. "Every day they smile at you, they talk to you, they help you with your work in class. You can call on the phone if you have trouble . . . and they're always willing to help."

        Michael Feinberg, co-founder and director of the KIPP Academy in Houston, Texas, says that teachers who choose to work at his school "know what they're getting into." They are aware of their extended hours, from 7:15 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every weekday, and four hours on Saturdays. They know that they are all required to teach summer school and to distribute their home phone numbers for homework assistance. Beyond all this, they are expected to do "just in general whatever it takes to get kids to learn." In return, KIPP makes every attempt to accommodate teachers' needs. In addition to higher salaries than those of district teachers, KIPP's faculty members are provided with such conveniences as cell phones for receiving students' phone calls.

        "That's my responsibility," Feinberg says, "to make this sustainable for these teachers who are doing the most important job we have in our country today."

        Charter school advocates such as Jeanne Allen, president of The Center for Education Reform, say that the charter school legislation often provides schools with the flexibility they need to accommodate their students.

        Freedom from some of the bureaucracy overlooking traditional public schools allows charter school administrators to distribute their budgets in the most effective way possible.

        "There are some great success stories in charter schools, more than we even know about," Allen says, "that demonstrate how in a very short time period, a really good environment and a good school can take children from the bottom of the barrel to the top of the heap." One such success story is that of Yvonne Chan, principal of the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Los Angeles, California. After converting to the charter school system, Chan saw her students, largely from impoverished and bilingual homes, rise from the 30th to the 60th percentile in reading and math -- a feat that Los Angeles public school students had failed to accomplish for over twenty years.

        "We've been able to reduce class size twenty to one in every single grade," Chan says. "We have a computer for every three students, and everyone is online ... we're able to accelerate bilingual education to help students to make the transition to English no later than third grade." Chan notes the extended school hours and expanded kindergarten and preschool programs that became possible with Vaughn's new financial flexibility. Like her colleagues, she takes special pride in the teachers whose dedication and unity helped to transform Vaughn from a "throw-away school" into the pioneering institution it has become. Winner of the 1995 California School Award and the 1997 National Blue Ribbon Award for high school excellence, the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center now serves as a model for at-risk schools across the nation.

        Other charter schools visited in this documentary include: Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School in Lowell, Massachusetts, which services high school drop-outs on the campus of Middlesex Community College; the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Academy in Trenton, New Jersey, one of the first public boarding schools, which provides a safe environment for students who wouldn't otherwise have one; and the Neighborhood House Charter School in Boston, Massachusetts, which has recently had its charter renewed after undergoing Massachusetts' rigorous fifth-year inspection process. In addition to the fifth-year inspection required for charter renewal, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts monitors its charter schools annually to ensure that they are meeting the standards set by their charters.

        Sandra Feldman, president of the American Federation of Teachers, warns against the possible pitfalls of charter school laws: "Is the legislation going to provide for the kind of accountability [we] want to see in all public schools? ... Will there be qualified teachers? ... Will the program be a program that educates the children according to what the states' standards and curriculum frameworks are?"

        Other participants featured in this documentary include: John Ayers, Executive Director of Leadership for Quality Education in Chicago, IL; Linda Brown, Director of the Charter School Resource Center at the Pioneer Institute for Policy Research in Boston, MA; Howard Fuller, Founder and Director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning in Milwaukee, WI; Bruno V. Manno, Ph.D., Senior Fellow of the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, MD; and Joe Nathan, Director of the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN.

        Clarence Page acknowledges that charter schools may not be the only solution to what ails our nation's public school system. However, he notes, "despite some failures, charter schools are beginning to build an impressive track record." They are also beginning to teach an important lesson, the lesson that "there may be something worse than failure: the fear of trying something new."

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The Center for Education Reform [CER] is a national, independent, non-profit advocacy organization providing support and guidance to individuals, community and civic groups, policymakers and others who are working to bring fundamental reforms to their schools. For additional information on education reform please call CER at (202) 822-9000.

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