Getting Beyond the Book Wars
Robin Lake:
I'm often asked how CRPE's portfolio model differs from the vision put forth in my friend Andy Smarick's book, The Urban School System of the Future. My first response is, "Not all that much." Andy's proposed solution to urban school system dysfunction is one that is nearly identical to the thesis in my colleague Paul Hill's book Reinventing Public Education and CRPE's founding ideal nearly 20 years ago:- All public schools should operate like charter schools, with autonomy over their educational programs, funding, and staffing.
- They should be held accountable primarily for results, not inputs, via a performance contract.
- Families should have access to a broad range of high-quality public school options rather than being assigned to one school.
Andy believes, though, that in the urban school system of the future, state charter authorizers, rather than publicly elected school boards, should oversee all city schools--which is the case now throughout most of New Orleans. If he had his druthers, no school district would have the right to charter.
While I'm a great fan of the transformation of the New Orleans school system, the idea that an all-charter system is the right solution for every big city strikes me as shortsighted. First off, in many cities, charter school authorizers don't have a good track record. In Cleveland, for instance, the charter sector is at best mediocre, whereas the Cleveland school district, under the leadership of Superintendent Eric Gordon, has a strong plan for transitioning to a portfolio of high-performing autonomous schools, some charter, some district-run. In other cities, like Indianapolis and San Antonio, the charter sector offers a more plausible solution than the district, under the leadership of the city and with help from community-based incubators. In other cities, neither the district not the current charter authorizers are particularly effective governing agencies, so there needs to be a new or different solution.
Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 6, 2013 12:47 AM
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