Charter school experiment a success; The arrival of charter schools in any city usually starts a fight.

USA Today Editorial:

Critics -- whether district superintendents or teachers' unions or school boards or a traveling band of academic doubters -- snipe at the newcomers, arguing that they're siphoning students and money from traditional public schools.

But as evidence from the 20-year-old charter experiment mounts, the snipers are in need of a new argument. There's little doubt left that top-performing charters have introduced new educational models that have already achieved startling results in even the most difficult circumstances.

That doesn't mean all charters are automatically good. They're not. But it's indisputable that the good ones -- most prominently, KIPP -- are onto something. The non-profit company, which now has 125 schools, operates on a model that demands much more of students, parents and teachers than the typical school does. School days are longer, sometimes including Saturday classes. Homework burdens are higher, typically two hours a night. Grading is tougher. Expectations are high, as is the quality of teachers and principals, and so are the results.

KIPP's eighth-grade graduates go to college at twice the national rate for low-income students, according to its own tracking. After three years, scores on math tests rise as if students had four years of schooling, according to an independent study.

Related: Madison Mayor Paul Soglin: "We are not interested in the development of new charter schools"
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A majority of the Madison School Board rejected the proposed Madison Preparatory IB charter school.

Minneapolis teacher's union approved to authorize charter schools
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Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 3, 2013 2:25 AM
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