What if a charter school could take the same poor minority children that the MPS consistently fail with and help them succeed? No need to theorize, it's already been done.
So what are they doing different? A number of factors standout: structure and discipline, effective instructional methods (Direct Instruction), focused curriculum, a dedicated teaching staff, a cultural environment supportive of academic success, and high parental involvement. Is this such a surprise? The question is why the Minneapolis Public can't duplicate this success.
The answer is so simple, I'm surprised you ask the question. Charter schools cherry pick students who have involved parents.
Public schools don't get to do that. They have to take all comers, no matter how uninvolved or uninterested or otherwise absent their parents. It's been demonstrated over and over that involved parents make more difference in a child's education than any other factor.
Public schools can't duplicate charter schools success because they are forced to work with more challenging situations of far greater variety and depth. It's far easier to win when the whole team pulls together. It's not when much the team doesn't care, actively pulls in other directions or doesn't even realize they're involved in such an effort.
I suspect, but don't know, that charter schools also get to cherry pick the better teachers, too. Can anyone address the rules regarding hiring, promotion and firing of teachers in charter schools in contrast to the ordinary public schools? If I'm right, such an advantage would just compound the previous one of picking students with involved parents.
Chris Johnson Fulton
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