Posted on by arotherham

Getting To Closure

Solid overview of what’s happening in California around the state charter school association’s call to shutter some low-performing charter schools there. Big takeaways: (1) In education quality is still in the eye of the beholder. (2) When is the last time you saw a traditional education association forthrightly call for this kind of consequential accountability? (3) Despite that, it’s still hard as hell to do.

Background from California Charter Schools Association here.

One Reply to “Getting To Closure”

  1. Two comments on why two of Andy’s three takeways aren’t.

    First, the California Charter Schools Association is far from a “traditional education association.” It was created and remains largely funded by a small group of philanthropists who appear to exert vice-grip control over its governance and decision-making. Less a forthright call than a cowardly cheap-shot against some vulnerable school.

    Second, closing charter schools is actually a lot easier than many think. My staff and I have worked with many charter authorizers and charter schools to close more than a few poorly-performing schools. In many, if not most such cases, the decision is made quietly and without fanfare and the closure occurs smoothly. We do this work because it’s the right thing to do and do it quietly, without fanfare, philanthropic funding, or self-aggrandizing propaganda. Just because you didn’t hear the charter trees fall in the woods, or read about it on the front page of the paper doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

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