Rising concerns over the management practices and academic quality of virtual charter schools have exposed a deepening divide among some of the nation’s most influential supporters of school choice.
Armed with research that paints a grim picture of the virtual charter school sector, some of the most prominent advocates for charter schools have started calling for education authorities to step up regulation of online schools and shut down those that are falling short. Among them: the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, and the Walton Family Foundation.
But other marquee school choice groups criticize that stance, arguing that it ignores strong parent demand and fails to acknowledge that research so far has not been designed to capture successes in these unusual schools. One of those groups is the Center for Education Reform, whose founder says the charter supporters are risking becoming too prescriptive and bureaucratic.
“People…who run organizations like mine shouldn’t be casting aside or making huge pronouncements about a type of school and approach at the exclusion of what parents need and want,” said Jeanne Allen, who is also the group’s CEO. “Our philosophy is that anyone who says that any particular kind of school is bad, or doesn’t work, or shouldn’t be in operation, based on limited data, is no different than the education establishment that we were started to fight and help parents get options from.”
