As we consider charter schools for our state we must ask ourselves what is the purpose of charter schools and take a hard look at research on charter schools.
If the purpose of charter schools is to increase the academic performance of our students, the broad research on the academic performance of charter schools compared to traditional public schools is mixed at best.
There is no agreement among researchers that charter schools outperform public schools.
There are individual exceptions to that research. For example, the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) schools have a strong track record of academic success. The students have a significantly longer school day than a traditional public school.
Students in the KIPP primary schools attend school from 7:25 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:25a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday.
Summer school is required for all students.
The increase in academic time is an important part of their success. That increase in time also comes with an increase in operational costs to run the school.
The question for the citizens of Washington is more than, " Do you support charter schools?" It would have to include increased financial support for the additional time students spend in school. In the KIPP schools, the increase in time is a key to the student achievement.
We need to be careful consumers of the research on charter schools. The movie Waiting for Superman highlights a charter school that claims to send 94 percent of its seniors to college.
They forgot to tell us that the school had a seventh-grade class of 140 students and a graduating class of 34. It is true that 94 percent of the 34 seniors went on to college but the schools attrition rate was 75 percent. Is that a successful charter school?
My hope for our state is that we do not jump on the charter school band wagon, but that we take the time to look at the broad research of more than few examples of charter schools and make decisions based on research and the needs of our students.
-- Greg Fancher, Kennewick
