Can Charter Schools Improve Achievement?

Yes! According to a recent report by the Center for School Change at the Humphrey Institute:

21 out of 31 charter schools studied have reported gains after administering the same test twice.
Seven charters in this group have had their contracts renewed because they showed improved achievement.
Most of the charter schools studied are serving urban students of color and low income students.

Recent Comments

A Memorial to a Mistake / Joe Nathan’s Column (7)
- Joe Nathan: Shannon, I’d love to know more about which students you take to the memorial and what reactions they have. Please share more with us. Thanks.
- Shannon: This is very tastefully written. This happens to be one of my favorite memorials to take students to see. The discussion that is generated from this one memorial is priceless. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Informed urgency needed to help improve schools / Joe Nathan’s Column (7)
- Patrick Grant: I have to agree with Tom King, with his comments about not evaluating teachers on how students do on tests. I think that standardized testing should go away completely! We have this new Common Core Standards now, so let’s let the...
- Jerry Von Korff: Did the state chamber support or oppose the revenue increases proposed by the Dayton administration and the DFL majorities in House and Senate? Is the chamber’s position, that it will support any school reform as long as it...
- karen seashore: In a four-book review entitled of four controversial books on education published in 2013 entitled Ravitch, Ripley, Ravitch and me I included this observation about Rhee: “She is an academically brilliant person lacking sufficient...
- Scott R Sands: Child-based decisions start with asking the child about her short and long term goals and what she feels we can do to help. Then we must act on what learn from her. Anything else will be wide of the mark. It will be adult-based.
- Tom King: I am all for teacher evaluation. But it needs to be tied to teacher performance, not student performance based on tests. Let me tell you why. Many classrooms, particularly urban classrooms, have significant student turnover between...
School critic group fails fairness test (6)
- Jay C Ritterson: It appears we’re moving on from a world where opinion is citable as fact. Now we cite outright lies. It’s the world of Madison Avenue Mad Men, where advertising is about sales, not truth. After all, which carries more weight to a...
- Eileen Harvala: This is a really good example on how data and information can be misused and distorted. I appreciate that Joe took the time to examine the information and seek thoughts from the superintendents of the school districts mentioned....
- Tom totushek: I teach a unit titled “How to Lie with Statistics” and as a teacher I give these guys an “A” (not really because I use standard-based grading, but you get the idea). Cherry picking at its best!
- Rep Carlos Mariani: Joe is indeed correct in both his critique of the agregious data manipulation in the “Better Ed” postcard and also in pointing out the error in my prior Op Ed piece. Thanks to SLEDS – a new data sharing, collection, reporting...
- Karen Seashore: Important rebuttal. In addition, we all wish that the number of students graduating from a Minnesota high school who took developmental courses was zero, but that will never be the case. No matter how good the school, some students...
Seeking common ground may help improve schools / Joe Nathan’s Column (4)
- Datrica Chukwu: Excellent peace Joe, but no one is speaking about the lack of preparedness of classroom teachers or the educators who bounce from one urban school to the next just do they can have their student loans paid off. Mindset plays an...
- Tom Watkins: Failure cannot be an option. Our collective future depends on success in educating more and more of our children to a higher level to collaborate and compete on the world stage.
- Arnold F. Fege: Joe Nathan hit on the real “choice”–we can all go our own way, or recognize that we are all in this together, and breaking down the fault lines of disgreement and work to find the common ground is at the core of...
- Tom King: Never give up looking for common ground It’s uncommonly difficult to find these days, but it’s there…points of concordance that enable more efforts toward common goals and, perhaps, more goals being achieved. After 70...
Good news for Minnesota students, families and taxpayers (5)
- Cecilia Retelle: Good morning, Dr. Nathan! If you ever want us to cross post your blogs about PSEO, we’d be happy to. We are going to be starting our blog in the next couple of weeks and want people to know all their options. Hope you are...
- Darren Beck: Seems a no brainer to provide free or low cost access to these courses for High School students, but that is likely the challenge. Common sense is not so common. Hope this message gets to all qualified students.
- Eric Morrison: Joe, This is positive action and it is concrete. It is the best news in Minnesota education that I’ve heard in a long time. Your advocacy that PSEO options be made more visible on MNSCU web sites will be tremendously...
- Karen Seashore: When I observe high quality vocational education classes, it is clear that students are also learning “practical academics” — math, critical thinking, and problem solving. One shop class that I particularly loved...
- Tom King: Sure makes sense to me, folks. If you’ve got a career goal in mind, free, post-secondary courses that will help you get the job you want make all the sense the world: You find out more about the career, you’re a step closer...
2013’s memorable messages about education (10)
- Alicia Middleton: It takes courage to innovate! A true innovator will speak up and activate the changes needed for the greater good of all. Many cry about the misuse of tax dollars. However, these monies should be used towards meeting the needs of...
- Nancy Dana: While Mr White admits to never having met Dr. Nathan, I have known Dr. Nathan AND Dr. Jennings for many years, and consider them great mentors and colleagues ( however neither of them are my uncles) . What I do know is Dr. Nathan’s...
- Paul Hoss: “The Minnesota Business Partnership and Minnesota Chamber of Commerce are very concerned about removing the requirement that students pass tests before they graduate.” I would be too. Minnesota is a known and respected public school...
- John Webster: Charter schools ARE public schools. Here in Minnesota, charters are funded primarily by state aid funds; traditional public schools also receive local property tax revenues. Charters are subject to the same testing and other...