ARTICLE: Running to Charters

Denver Should Turn to Charters, New Report Says

Education News

"According to the new report released by the non-profit Donnell-Kay Foundation, Denver Public Schools would be better off turning to charters to fix the failing schools in the district than try to apply cumbersome turnaround strategies recommended by the federal government."

Let's see... The government (who wrote NCLB and Race to the Top) recommends some turnaround strategies that haven't worked. Fills you with confidence, doesn't it? Instead, the district is encouraged to turn to charter schools...

"The data in the study showed variations within school types, but overall found that new charter schools — managed autonomously but held accountable by the district — had higher scores than the district averages."

So... and I hate to point this out because it seems to me that decision-makers and administrators should find this obvious... public schools might actually find success if they are managed autonomously. Why do we need charter schools? Ignoring the point of their creation, they're not centers of ingenuity.  

Instead of fighting for the American public school system, our nation just threw up its hands, and ran to something new. Not better. Just new. We don't need new--we need to amputate the broken and unnecessary.