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Charters Must Prove Their Effectiveness

Authors: Stanton Lawrence is the Superintendent of the Normandy School District and a member of the Beyond Housing Board of Directors.  Joyce McRath is Vice-President of the Normandy School District Board of Education.

Like many in the St. Louis area, the Normandy School District was taken quite by surprise two weeks ago to hear of House Bill 473, a bill that had been stealthily introduced and was being considered by the Missouri House of Representatives. Introduced by State Rep. Tishaura Jones of the 63rd District in St. Louis, this bill would, among other things, extend charter schools to school districts that are provisionally accredited. To that point, such campuses have been limited to the St. Louis and Kansas City school districts. Based on the outcomes experienced in those examples, is there any evidence that would lead us to believe that charter schools are the best solutions for struggling school districts?

Let us take a look at the hard facts surrounding these schools. What leaps out first are the dismal track records related to the academic performance of charter schools. Currently, charter school campuses unfortunately are not performing as well as provisionally accredited school districts. That's right — you read it correctly — charter schools are performing less well than the state's underperforming school districts. With the exception of a couple of Kansas City charter campuses that use "selective-admissions criteria" (they accept only the best and brightest students), other charter campuses have underperformed on a grand scale.

Another issue that should trigger some concern are the communities in which charter schools are being proposed. If they are indeed a universal fix for addressing the education problems of parents whose choices are severely restricted because of circumstances related to poverty, one would think that they might also provide solutions in other communities that are more privileged. Instead, charter schools are cunningly marketed as "private schools for free" to parents whose limited knowledge of their true purpose sadly misguides them into selecting the campuses as the best options for their children.

These parents regrettably never are provided insight into issues such as inferior teacher certification standards, poor academic performance, improper fiscal oversight and myriad other issues that have historically plagued charter schools. Stated differently, the parents who opt for charter schools often make an unwise choice for their children, given the dubious track record of such campuses. Often, these campuses are not required to measure up to the same stringent guidelines in place for traditional public schools.

The Normandy School District has had to come to terms with its own set of issues related to poor performance over the past few years. The manner in which we legitimately addressed such challenges was to, first of all, acknowledge their existence. Next, the district crafted a plan of strategic action that took into account all areas of deficiency along with the measures that were required to shore them up.

Nearly a year ago, our district enacted this bold and courageous plan to put the wheels in motion for a more refined school district with a transformed culture. All district staff who were not in classroom teaching positions were required to reapply for their jobs. Teachers who were identified as underperforming were informed that they would be expected to meet newly established, more elevated levels of rigor in their classrooms and, in most instances, our teachers rose to that soaring level of performance.

We looked nationwide to seek and acquire more focused and effective campus leadership for 8 of our 11 campuses. Last and most important, the Normandy Board of Education approved a strategic plan that enumerated lofty goals that are being pursued to turn around performance in a school district that admittedly has struggled for some time. And, in the midst of all of this movement, our district absorbed the Wellston School District in what we believe was a smooth and seamless transition.

We do not expect anyone to accept the claims of instructional progress as "gospel." We have the data which clearly indicate that academic traction has finally been gained, and we expect the momentum to be especially significant next year. While we are pleased with this directional shift, we also recognize that the establishment of charter schools in our district would immediately destabilize our efforts. As in most places, these campuses would siphon off many of our youngsters and would decimate our school district academically as well as fiscally.

But we will go one step further in our argument for public schools and against charters: We do not believe that they are the answer for any provisionally accredited school district. Until we see solid evidence to suggest that the failed experiment of charter schools has itself turned around, or until they are considered for all communities (instead of only poor or heavily African-American communities), we need to keep the line drawn in the sand regarding their expansion.