Researchers aim critism at charter schools
The Berkshire Eagle
Christopher Marcisz, Bershire Eagle Staff
December 10, 2004
Two recent reports suggest that Massachusetts charter schools are serving proportionally fewer low-income and special-needs students than regular public schools, and that nearly three-quarters of the schools have not complied with state regulations on enrollment standards.
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Above-average record
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A recent report from the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy compared state charter schools with their feeder districts. The center is a part of the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, a nonpartisan research organization.
Center executive director Paul Reville said the purpose was to begin a discussion about who the schools are supposed to serve.
"In terms of policy recommendations, we're asking the Legislature to be more deliberate about the operation and future development of charter schools," he said. "We've moved past the experimental period for charter schools."
Among the findings are that schools serve proportionally more African-American students than their districts, but that they include fewer students from other ethnic groups as well as fewer low-income and special-education students. The differences were more pronounced in urban charter schools than in rural and suburban ones.
Most charter schools are in urban areas --more than a third of the state's are in Boston alone -- and Reville said that for the study, rural and suburban schools were grouped together.
He said that rural and suburban charter schools tend to enroll proportionally fewer low-income students, but enroll more special-education students than the district schools from which they draw.
But he said that the differences were slight, and that rural and suburban schools are doing well "if our assumption is that our ideal is a perfect reflection of the district." He noted that, in cities such as Boston or Springfield, most of the schools serve the neighborhood, so any given school could not be expected to reflect the entire school district.
Reville said the purpose of the study is to determine how schools should proceed in the future, whether they should focus on serving underachieving students or on providing alternatives for students in poor performing districts. Other questions include whether schools should focus on creating more demographic and geographic balance.
"There ought to be clearer policy intents about who charter schools are serving," he said.
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Paul Dunphy, a policy analyst for Citizens for Public Schools, said that charter school proponents are continuing their efforts with a law introduced for the coming session that would raise the caps on schools in communities with low MCAS scores.Dunphy noted that the Rennie Center's findings are consistent with what his group has found, and pointed to other studies at the federal level that find charter schools lag academically as well.
Last month, a federal Department of Education report found that charter school students in five states --including Massachusetts -- were less likely to meet state achievement standards than traditional public students.
"It certainly raises questions about whether the state should continue to invest millions of dollars in these schools," Dunphy said.
Almost ready to move
Meanwhile, Bowen said that the school will be ready to move into its permanent home at One Commercial Place in Adams in the new year. Since September, the school has been leasing space at Mount Greylock Regional High School while renovations that had been delayed by a threatened moratorium are completed.
"It's coming along really well," Bowen said. "The drywall is going up today, the electrical inspection was last week, and we're on track to move the end of January."
She said they anticipate moving in when the second semester begins Jan. 31, and that the work has gone smoothly.
"It was a very simple job," she said. "It was very clearly set out because we're not building from scratch or doing a major renovation of an old building."
On the Web: The Rennie Center.
Christopher Marcisz can be reached at cmarcisz@berkshireeagle.comor at [413] 664-4995.