a*****g
发帖数: 19398 | 1 By Stephanie Simon
Getting in can be grueling.
Students may be asked to submit a 15-page typed research paper, an original
short story, or a handwritten essay on the historical figure they would most
like to meet. There are interviews. Exams. And pages of questions for
parents to answer, including: How do you intend to help this school if we
admit your son or daughter?
These aren't college applications. They're applications for seats at charter
schools.
Charters are public schools, funded by taxpayers and widely promoted as open
to all. But Reuters has found that across the United States, charters
aggressively screen student applicants, assessing their academic records,
parental support, disciplinary history, motivation, special needs and even
their citizenship, sometimes in violation of state and federal law.
"I didn't get the sense that was what charter schools were all about - we'll
pick the students who are the most motivated? Who are going to make our
test scores look good?" said Michelle Newman, whose 8-year-old son lost his
seat in an Ohio charter school last fall after he did poorly on an
admissions test. "It left a bad taste in my mouth."
Set up as alternatives to traditional public schools, charter schools
typically operate under private management and often boast small class sizes
, innovative teaching styles or a particular academic focus. They're booming
ago, educating a record 2.3 million children.
In cities and suburbs from Pennsylvania to Colorado to Arizona, charters and
traditional public schools are locked in fierce competition - for students,
for funding and for their very survival, with outcomes often hinging on
student test scores.
Charter advocates say it's a fair fight because both types of schools are
free and open to all. "That's a bedrock principle of our movement," said Jed
Wallace, president of the California Charter Schools Association. And
indeed, many states require charter schools to award seats by random lottery.
But as Reuters has found, it's not that simple. Thousands of charter schools
don't provide subsidized lunches, putting them out of reach for families in
poverty. Hundreds mandate that parents spend hours doing "volunteer" work
for the school or risk losing their child's seat. In one extreme example the
Cambridge Lakes Charter School in Pingree Grove, Illinois, mandates that
each student's family invest in the company that built the school - a
practice the state said it would investigate after inquiries from Reuters.
ARRAY OF BARRIERS
And from New Hampshire to California, charter schools large and small,
honored and obscure, have developed complex application processes that can
make it tough for students who struggle with disability, limited English
skills, academic deficits or chaotic family lives to even get into the
lottery.
Among the barriers that Reuters documented:
* Applications that are made available just a few hours a year.
* Lengthy application forms, often printed only in English, that require
student and parent essays, report cards, test scores, disciplinary records,
teacher recommendations and medical records.
* Demands that students present Social Security cards and birth certificates
for their applications to be considered, even though such documents cannot
be required under federal law.
* Mandatory family interviews.
* Assessment exams.
* Academic prerequisites.
* Requirements that applicants document any disabilities or special needs.
The U.S. Department of Education considers this practice illegal on the
college level but has not addressed the issue for K-12 schools.
Many charters, backed by state law, specialize in serving low-income and
minority children. Some of the best-known charter networks, such as KIPP,
Yes Prep, Green Dot and Success Academy, use simple application forms that
ask little more than name, grade and contact information, and actively seek
out disadvantaged families. Most for-profit charter school chains also keep
applications brief.
But stand-alone charters, which account for more than half the total in the
United States, make up their own admissions policies. Regulations are often
vague, oversight is often lax - and principals can get quite creative.
When Philadelphia officials examined 25 charter schools last spring, they
found 18 imposed "significant barriers," including a requirement from one
school that students produce a character reference from a religious or
community leader.
At Northland Preparatory Academy in Flagstaff, Arizona, application forms
are available just four and a half hours a year. Parents must attend one of
three information sessions to pick up a form; late arrivals can't get in. "
It's kind of like a time share (pitch)," said Bob Lombardi, the
superintendent. "You have to come and listen."
Traditional public schools have their own built-in barriers to admission,
starting with zip code: You don't have to write an essay to get into a high-
performing suburban school, but you do have to belong to a household with
the means to buy or rent in that neighborhood. Many districts also operate
magnet or exam schools for gifted students, some of which admit
disproportionately fewer low-income and minority students.
Yet most of the charter schools that screen do not set themselves up as
elite academies for the gifted. They bill themselves as open to all. For two
decades, that promise of accessibility and equity has been the mantra of
the charter school movement. It's proved a potent political argument as well
, as advocates have pressed to expand the number of charters and their share
of public funding.
"TALKING POINT"
Open access "is an easy and popular talking point," said Frederick Hess,
director of education policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise
Institute. There's just one problem, Hess said: It's not true.
"There's a level of institutional hypocrisy here which is actually unhealthy
," said Hess, who is a strong advocate of charter schools. "It's a strange
double game. Charter advocates say, 'No, no, no, we don't believe in (
selective admissions),' but when you see a successful charter school, it's
filled with families who are a good fit and who want to be there, and that's
not possible when you have a random assortment of kids."
Five states - Florida, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Ohio and Texas - explicitly
permit certain charter schools to screen applicants by academic performance
. Most others do not. Yet schools have found loopholes.
Alaska, Delaware and North Carolina, for instance, permit charter schools to
give admissions preference to students who demonstrate interest in their
particular educational focus. Some schools use that leeway to screen for
students who are ready for advanced math classes or have stellar
standardized test scores.
In California, the law sounds straightforward enough: "A charter school
shall admit all pupils who wish to attend the school," with seats awarded by
lottery if demand exceeds capacity.
Yet Roseland Accelerated Middle School, a charter school in Santa Rosa,
California, won't even enter applicants into the lottery until they have
proved their mettle by writing a five-page autobiography (with no errors in
grammar or spelling, the form warns), as well as a long essay and six short
essays.
Applicants also must provide recommendations, report cards and statements
from their parents or guardians and submit a medical history, including a
list of all medications they take.
Gail Ahlas, superintendent of the public school district that oversees the
charter, says the process isn't meant to exclude anyone, but to "set the
tone" for the school as a rigorous college-prep environment. The form does
not offer any accommodation for students with special needs or limited
English skills, but Ahlas said she is confident the process "has not been a
gatekeeper" and "absolutely" complies with state law.
Ahlas is hardly alone in interpreting California law as flexible. One
charter high school in the state will not consider applicants with less than
a 2.0 grade point average. Another will only admit students who passed
Algebra I in middle school with a grade of B or better.
Julie Russell, who runs the state's Charter Schools Division, said she is
not sure how, or whether, such policies square with the open-admissions law.
"It's not real, real clear," she said. She relies on each school's overseer
to make sure it is in compliance, she said.
In California, as in most states, oversight of charter schools primarily
rests with local "authorizers" - typically a school district, a university,
or a community group. Authorizers review policies, monitor academic progress
and make sure the schools under their jurisdiction comply with state and
federal law.
The National Association of Charter School Authorizers informs members that
one of their core responsibilities is making sure schools are open to all,
said Alex Medler, a vice president of the group. "That's non-negotiable," he
said.
OVERSIGHT ISSUES
Medler acknowledged that many authorizers have fallen down on the job. They
may approve vague admissions policies without demanding details. They may
not have the expertise to spot problems. Or they may relax supervision over
time, so they don't even notice when a school adds criteria that can help
charters weed out less-than-desirable students.
Hawthorne Math and Science Academy, a top-rated charter school outside of
Los Angeles, uses a multistep admissions process that requires assessment
exams in math and English and a family interview.
Principal Esau Berumen said the lottery takes place before the exams and
interview, and he does not screen prospective students for academic ability.
But students are not formally admitted until they complete the entire
process. Berumen said about 10 percent don't complete it, leaving him with a
pool of kids he knows are motivated to embrace the rigors of his curriculum.
"If there's any skimming off the top, it's on effort and drive," Berumen
said.
The academy's authorizer, the local school district, did not return calls
and emails seeking comment.
To some parents, screening applicants makes sense, given the limited number
of seats at top charter schools. "Where do we want to put scarce resources?
Find the kids who will benefit most," said Judy Bushnell, a San Diego mother
who is seeking to get her 12-year-old daughter into a charter school.
Other parents, however, feel unfairly shut out.
Shortly after the school year began this fall, Michelle Newman got a call
from The Intergenerational Charter School in Cleveland, Ohio. A spot had
opened up in a third-grade classroom, and her 8-year-old son, Lucas, was
first on the waiting list. Administrators said he could enroll after he took
an exam.
The exam, part of a two-hour assessment, included questions drawn from state
standardized tests. It didn't go well. Lucas was still in summer vacation
mode and balked at some math problems, his mother said.
Still, she said she was shocked when the principal called a few days later
to say Lucas could not enroll because staff had determined that he wasn't
academically or developmentally ready for third-grade - even though he was
enrolled in the third grade at his local public school, where he remains.
Charter schools say they take everyone, "but they didn't take him," Newman
said. "It's not really about educating all children."
Eric McGarvey, admissions coordinator for Intergenerational, said the school
assesses applicants through testing, an interview and a report-card review
because "we don't want to accept a child into a grade level that they're not
ready for. It doesn't do them any justice." Students who are rejected, he
said, go to the top of the waiting list for the grade teachers deem
appropriate.
A spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education said charter schools are
obligated to admit students into the grade they would attend at their
neighborhood school, regardless of skill. The community authorizer that
supervises Intergenerational Charter said that it is confident the school's
admissions policy is legal but that it will review the policy.
SCARCE RESOURCES
Though admissions barriers most directly affect individual students, the
stakes are high for public education nationwide. Funding for charter schools
comes primarily from the states, so as charters expand, less money is left
for traditional public schools. Teachers unions have fought the
proliferation of charters because they see the schools, which typically
employ non-union teachers, as a drain on traditional public schools.
Charter-school advocates say the shift in resources is warranted because
charters often excel where traditional schools have failed, posting stellar
test scores even in impoverished neighborhoods with little history of
academic success.
But a growing number of education experts - including some staunch fans of
charter schools - see that narrative as flawed. They point to application
barriers at some charter schools and high expulsion rates at others as
evidence that the charter sector as a whole may be skimming the most
motivated, disciplined students and leaving the hardest-to-reach behind.
That, in turn, can drive down test scores and enrollment at traditional
public schools. In Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago and other cities,
officials have cited just such trends as justification for closing scores
of neighborhood schools to make way for still more charters.
"At some point, the slow leak of the most motivated students and families
can put traditional schools in a downward spiral they can't recover from,"
said Jeffrey Henig, an education professor at Teachers College at Columbia
University in New York.
Even when charter schools use simple applications, the fact that parents
must submit them months before the start of school means that "these
students are in some ways more advantaged, come from more motivated families
" than kids in nearby district schools, education analyst Michael Petrilli
said.
"We're talking about different populations," said Petrilli, executive vice
president at the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute and longtime
advocate of charter schools.
A federal report released last summer found that charter schools across the
United States enroll significantly fewer special-needs students than
district schools.
In New York City and Newark, New Jersey, high-achieving charter networks
enroll markedly fewer poor, severely disabled and English-as-a-second-
language students than district schools, according to an analysis by Bruce
Baker, an education professor at Rutgers University.
STUDY IN CONTRASTS
Such differences are visible in San Francisco, at a charter school and a
district school less than a mile apart.
At Gateway High, a well-regarded charter, 36 percent of students qualify for
subsidized lunch because of low income. At the district high school, 66
percent do, according to state data. Just 5 percent of Gateway's students
are still learning English, compared with 14 percent at the district high
school. And the parents at Gateway are better educated: Nearly half are
college graduates, compared to 29 percent at the nearby school.
Gateway requires applicants and their parents to answer four pages of
questions, responding to prompts such as "My best qualities are ..." and "
When I graduate from high school, I hope ..."
Gateway's executive director, Sharon Olken, said the point is to get
families thinking about whether the school is right for them; applicants are
not judged by their writing skills or even the content of their essays. The
application does not explain that, however, and even though they're allowed
to write in their native language, some families with limited English
skills are intimidated.
"Oh my God, it was a nightmare!" said Daisy Hernandez, a native Spanish
speaker who made it through the forms only with help from her son, who was
determined to apply. He got in.
The school's authorizer, the San Francisco Unified School District, has
reviewed the application and is confident Gateway "maintains a consistent
effort to reach and serve a diverse population," spokeswoman Gentle Blythe
said.
It can be hard, however, to assess with any rigor whether application
barriers deter students from applying. Education lawyers in several cities
said parents shut out of the process rarely go public with their complaints
out of concern for their children's privacy. Others see obstacles as deeply
frustrating - but hardly a reason to file a lawsuit or lodge a formal
protest with the state.
When Heather Davis-Jones sought to enroll her eight-year-old daughter,
Shakia, in a charter school in Philadelphia last year, she found it much
harder than she expected to get into admissions lotteries.
One school made its application available just one night a year; Davis-Jones
had to leave work early, forfeiting income, to pick it up. Others demanded
birth certificates and other records that Davis-Jones, who adopted her
daughter from foster care, did not have and could not get.
Yet it never occurred to Davis-Jones to complain. "I was like, 'This is
insane,' " she said. "But I felt like I needed to do whatever it took to get
her into a better school. If they want me to stand on my hands for 10 days,
I'll do it." Her daughter got into one of the charter schools and loves it.
"MY CHILD'S RIGHT"
Another Philadelphia mother, Erika Trujillo, did find the courage to call a
charter school and seek clarification when the application required a Social
Security card to get her son in the lottery. An immigrant, she did not have
that document.
"I was angry," Trujillo said. "It's my child's right to receive an education
even though he was born in Mexico."
Federal law requires public schools to admit all resident children,
including non-citizens and illegal immigrants. When Trujillo confronted them
, school administrators acknowledged that right and said her son could enter
the lottery without a Social Security card. But other parents have no way
to know that; application forms at that school - and scores of other charter
schools around the country - still indicate that a Social Security number
is required.
When authorizers or regulators spot improprieties in a charter school's
application process, they can demand changes.
In 2011, New York City put Academic Leadership Charter School on probation
for irregularities, including leaving hundreds of applicants out of the
lottery. (The school has changed its practices and is now acting with
integrity, a spokesman for the city's education department said.) This fall,
the charter school board in Washington, D.C., moved to shut down Imagine
Southeast Charter School for various failings, including inappropriate
questions about race and nationality on the application form.
Yet regulators are sometimes unclear on how to interpret the law.
Wyoming, for instance, expressly prohibits charter schools from
discriminating against students with special needs in enrollment decisions.
Yet Arapaho Charter High School in Riverton requires applicants to write
eight short essays, on topics such as "What does the word 'commitment' mean
to you?" Each student must also ask an adult mentor to answer another five
essay questions.
Principal Mel Miller said he doesn't turn away any student who completes the
application, no matter their skill level. He acknowledges, however, that
some teens take one look at the form and decide the school is not for them.
Asked whether the process could be considered discriminatory against
students with learning disabilities or limited English skills, Elaine Marces
, a consultant to the state Department of Education on charter school issues
, said she did not know. "That's actually a really good question," she said.
"We've not monitored it in the past. Maybe it's something we should be
looking at."
The superintendent of the local school district, which oversees the charter
school, at first said he was "100 percent confident" the application was
permissible under state law. Yet asked whether disadvantaged students might
be shut out, Superintendent Jonathan Braack said he was not sure. "This
makes me want to look into it," he said.
A 23-PAGE HURDLE
Authorizers also plan to look closely at possible admissions barriers at the
Preuss School at the University of California, San Diego.
Preuss has earned a reputation as one of the best charters in the United
States, hailed by Newsweek magazine as a "miracle high school." It serves
only low-income students whose parents don't have a four-year college degree.
Yet within that demographic, the school screens aggressively for aptitude,
drive and parental support.
The 23-page application requires students to hand-write a long essay and
several short-answer questions. They must submit a graded writing sample
from their old school, and then explain what they learned from the
assignment and how they could have done better. They must provide three
recommendations.
And their parents must respond to a page of questions, including: "Describe
what type of service you will contribute to this school. Please be specific.
" If they don't speak English, parents are asked to secure help from a
translator.
The school's charter is up for review this summer and its authorizer, the
San Diego Unified School District, plans to scrutinize the application
process, said Moises Aguirre, who oversees charter schools for the district.
"We are interested in equity," he said.
Preuss School Principal Scott Barton said the application is designed to
ensure that every child competing for scarce seats in the lottery has "the
motivation and the potential to succeed."
Barton said he typically tosses out a few applicants before the lottery -
those who have poor recommendations or show only lukewarm interest in Preuss
. But he says everyone else who completes the packet goes into the lottery.
"We don't cherry pick," he said. "We're certainly not judging the
application by grammar or those kinds of things."
That wasn't clear to Teresa Villanueva.
Applying this past fall for a seat for her 11-year-old daughter, Villanueva,
who speaks little English, couldn't understand some of the parent questions
and was afraid she would disqualify her daughter with clumsy responses. She
turned to staff at her daughter's after-school program to guide her through
, line by line. To her joy, her daughter got in.
"Thank God I had the help," Villanueva said. "If I was on my own, I wouldn't
have been able to do it."
(Editing by John Blanton)
---------------------------------------------
(This story was corrected. In paragraphs about Hawthorne, 30-31, corrects to
show that admissions lottery at Hawthorne Math and Science Academy takes
place before the assessment exams and family interview)
---------------------------------------------
RELATED COVERAGE --- Charter schools put parents to the test
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-usa-charters-paren
***********************************************
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See also -
**********************************************************************
From National Opportuity to Learn Campaign, Friday, September 6, 2013. See http://www.otlcampaign.org/blog/2013/09/04/new-infographic-welcome-charterland
**********************************************************************
New Infographic: Welcome to CharterLand!
Many policymakers like to herald charter schools as the cure-all solution to
a struggling public education system. But even if you wanted to attend one,
a charter might not want you. Based on research from Dr. Kevin Welner at
the National Education Policy Center, this new infographic from the OTL
Campaign illustrates the obstacles and pitfalls some charters set up to weed
out or push out struggling students and those who need additional supports.
While some charters do well by their students, even in the best possible
scenario charter schools aren't a systemic solution to providing an
opportunity to learn for all students.
Ensuring every student has access to a quality education shouldn't be a game
, so is "CharterLand" really the best way forward for America?
[See attachment for InfoGraphic "Game"]
For greater elaboration on the obstacles presented in CharterLand, along
with citations, read "The Dirty Dozen: How Charter Schools Influence Student
Enrollment" [See http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/TCR-Dirty-Dozen ]
And check out NEPC's new book, Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America
Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance. [SEE http://nepc.colorado.edu/book ]Closing the Opportunity Gap brings together top experts who offer evidence-based essays that paint a powerful picture of denied opportunities. They also describe sensible, research-based policy approaches to enhance opportunities. | d**********h
发帖数: 2795 | 2 学习了！
多谢分享
看着好高大上啊
original
most
charter
【在 a*****g 的大作中提到】
: By Stephanie Simon
:
: Getting in can be grueling.
: Students may be asked to submit a 15-page typed research paper, an original
: short story, or a handwritten essay on the historical figure they would most
: like to meet. There are interviews. Exams. And pages of questions for
: parents to answer, including: How do you intend to help this school if we
: admit your son or daughter?
: These aren't college applications. They're applications for seats at charter
: schools.
| a*****g
发帖数: 19398 | 3 美国教育的问题太多了
【在 d**********h 的大作中提到】
: 学习了！
: 多谢分享
: 看着好高大上啊
:
: original
: most
: charter
| t*******m
发帖数: 999 | 4 如果孩子进了好的charter school, 可能就会支持这种selective admission. 这叫上
免费的私立学校。
对孩子在公立学校的家长，会反对自己家缴税让别人的孩子上“私立”。
我们这里是抽签的。公平很多。而且，最近的情况是：新的charter school 要建立，
必须要学区同意。
(我想，没有哪个学区会同意把经费给charter school）
【在 a*****g 的大作中提到】
: 美国教育的问题太多了
| w*********o
发帖数: 3030 | 5 I know this is from some left wing website. People should make their own
judgement depending on the community they live in:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/07/06/growing-evidence-c | a*****g
发帖数: 19398 | 6 大锅饭也患不均
【在 t*******m 的大作中提到】
: 如果孩子进了好的charter school, 可能就会支持这种selective admission. 这叫上
: 免费的私立学校。
: 对孩子在公立学校的家长，会反对自己家缴税让别人的孩子上“私立”。
: 我们这里是抽签的。公平很多。而且，最近的情况是：新的charter school 要建立，
: 必须要学区同意。
: (我想，没有哪个学区会同意把经费给charter school）
|
|
