BS: Charter Schools in Arizona

Subject: Charter Schools in Arizona
From: Ringer
Date: 17 Oct 01 - 06:05 AM

There's an article in today's Daily Telegraph (London), written by Chris Woodhead, who was, until very recently, Chief Inspector of Schools. Part of it I reproduce:

On then to Arizona, the state that has done most to encourage the development of charter schools. A charter school is a publicly funded, privately operated state school.

The idea is very simple. Parents, teachers or businessmen might, for whatever reason, be unhappy with the quality of education offered by existing state schools. The charter school legislation gives them the opportunity to establish and run their own school. The school they create will receive the same funding per pupil as an ordinary state school, but it will not have to conform to the bureaucratic rules that determine what happens in state schools.

Anyone with experience of education in Arizona care to comment? How have charter schools worked? Are they successful? How does Mr(s) Average of Arizona view them? I shall be on holiday from now for (almost) a fortnight, but shall await your contributions with great anticipation (and might possibly be able to view a few before I go).

Subject: RE: BS: Charter Schools in Arizona
From: catspaw49
Date: 17 Oct 01 - 07:27 AM

Well Great Bald One, I'm not from Arizona, but I can tell you they get below average.....well below average.....scores in Ohio. I'm talking public opinion here and not actual measurement of standards. Quite a few have bellied up at great expense and loss to the State of Ohio as well as the parents and students involved with them.

One somewhat notorious case here involved a military charter school that was pretty much nothing but a scam and it colored opinion across the board. In the three major cities of Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, the concept as a whole is going downhill fast.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Charter Schools in Arizona
From: DougR
Date: 18 Oct 01 - 01:01 AM

The experience in Arizona has not been the same as in Ohio, Bald Eagle. Public school people aren't particularly happy with them, but the Charter School students and their parents seem to be. Some of them specialize in particular subjects. One of the outstanding ones is the School for the Arts in Scottsdale, Arizona. The students have done well academically and they have produced some outstanding students of music, dance, visual arts and theater.

On the annual SAT tests, some of the Charter school students have done considerably better than those in some of the public schools.

The first few years some of them experienced financial problems and some went "under," but by and large, I think they have been very successful.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Charter Schools in Arizona
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Oct 01 - 04:03 PM

Charter schools are now in Canada as well, especially Alberta. As might be predicted, those that are strongly academically based get good scores on provincial tests, while the religion-sponsored fundamentalist schools get mediocre scores as a whole. Yhe good academic ones are quite expensive and the students are carefully selected. These schools, unfortunately, take money out of the public system - the old story of funding provided by the province depends on enrollment in the school district.
The separate school system (Catholic) is not really affected as yet; Catholic parents seem mostly happy with their separate schools (taxpayers specify which system, public or Catholic, gets their tax money). I am not familiar enough with the provisions for Muslim and Jewish schools.

Subject: RE: BS: Charter Schools in Arizona
From: GUEST,Souter
Date: 19 Oct 01 - 04:00 PM

In New York, it's only the good ones which get the press. But it seems that those which work are much better than public schools, excluding magnet and specialized ones, and about the same as good private schools. They're pretty popular, most people who apply don't get in. Whether you get in or not is usually decided on a lottery system. Magnet schools are any public schools K-12 that offer special enrichment programs, like a good IGC program, or a music program, or the high school I'm in now, a Law as a Profession course. A specialized high school involves taking a test. For example Stuyvessant is for smart kids, LaGuardia is the former High School of the Performing Arts.

Subject: RE: BS: Charter Schools in Arizona
From: DougR
Date: 19 Oct 01 - 05:26 PM

I don't think, Guest Souter, there is any problem enrolling in a Charter school in Arizona. Perhaps because there are so many of them.

My daughter is a public school teacher and she and many others do not support Charter schools because they feel funds are siphoned from public schools. If the public schools did the job, though, there would not have been a market for Charter schools, I suppose.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Charter Schools in Arizona
From: Ringer
Date: 01 Nov 01 - 07:08 AM

Thanks, all.