Good day, CharterFolk.
Today’s mid-week whip-around starts with new data releases.
Missouri’s charter school association in collaboration with ESC Matrix has created a tool allowing parents to see how schools within a range of driving times are performing academically.
Meanwhile, just down the I-44, Oklahoma’s Statewide Charter School Board and ESC have done something similar …
… sharing a tool showing how charter schools of various types are performing relative to district schools.
It provides the baseline information …
… enabling charter school advocates like Brent Bushey at FuelOKC …
… to write more compellingly.
We don’t have to imagine what’s possible; we can see it right here in Oklahoma City. Schools like Dove Science Academy High School and Santa Fe South Pathways Middle College are two public charter schools in Oklahoma City where most students come from families experiencing economic hardship. Yet, they’re among just six schools in OKCPS boundaries to earn an “A” on the State Report Card. These schools prove that academic excellence is possible in every neighborhood when leaders invest in educators, build supportive learning environments and believe in every student’s potential.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, who has come under even more heat for other reasons, has seen temperatures rise regarding his support for bringing to Oklahoma an Arizona online provider …
… whose poor academic performance led the Arizona Charter School Board to vote unanimously for its closure.
If this provider were to enter Oklahoma as a charter school, one could worry that it would add to a sector of online charter schools in Oklahoma that are underperforming …
… but the Superintendent insists the school would come as a private school eligible for funding under the state’s new voucher program. Now state regulators are saying it has to get approval first.
Oklahoma will be making that determination using data from another state that it won’t be collecting itself.
More broadly, the dangers of flying our public education efforts blind are on full display.
Last week, an academic made his case in a mainstream publication that the nation’s belief in a reading crisis is delusional.
Previously, he had only found receptiveness to his ideas among extreme defenders of the status quo.
Fortunately, sane voices Like Doug Lemov keep publishing new books and appearing on podcasts …
… reminding us that it took heroic journalism and access to data to dislodge us from pedagogical practices that were misguided.
We live in a time when parents are exploring all sorts of new options for their kids.
I’m in favor of them all.
With one caveat:
Data should be coming in from these different efforts so we can see what is working and what is not.
This week, the Times highlighted the rise of a new AI-driven program that will be opening up private schools across the country. Many will be eligible for new ESA or voucher programs. Many will not provide enough data about whether the new program is actually helping kids learn.
There is, thankfully, at least one exception:
The school the organization will open in Arizona as a charter school …
… which, like all charter schools, will be required to test and report its data.