Educators question maintenance of state standards in charter schools

Wednesday, February 24, 1999

Educators question maintenance of state standards in charter
schools

REFORM: Despite claims, study finds new program doesn’t increase
diversity

By Karla Y. Pleitez

Daily Bruin Contributor

In light of President Clinton’s proposal to increase funding to
charter schools, educators are questioning if these schools meet
the state’s education standards and the required ethnic diversity
for their districts.

Charter school advocates say these schools are becoming the
fastest growing reform for a better education.

But a recent study by Amy Stuart Wells, a UCLA professor of
education, found no evidence that charter schools are living up to
the claims of their backers.

Advocates say charter schools can improve student achievement,
and that any student has the opportunity to enroll in the charter
school of their choice.

According to the two-and-a-half year study, "Beyond the Rhetoric
of Charter School Reform," charter schools mainly enroll the
rich.

Wells says that charter schools depend heavily on well-connected
leaders who can locate additional resources.

"The success of charter schools frequently depends on the
leadership and fund-raising abilities of their operators," Wells
said in a press release.

"This gives a better advantage to charters that enroll students
from wealthy families since they can take advantage of these
connections," she said.

According to the report, charter school operators often describe
their ability to shape their school communities as a key advantage
to having "gone charter."

For this reason, Wells says that charter schools are not meeting
the state requirement that public schools reflect their district’s
ethnic makeup.

However, charter school administrators say the study is making
generalizations, since it only surveyed ten charter schools.

Meril Price, the founder of Palisades High Charter School, says
that charter schools abide by state laws and do have a racial
representation of the district.

"The goal of Palisades High is to offer the best education to as
many students in the entire district," Price said.

"Palisades High enrollment represents the districts’ ethnicity
as can be seen on our diverse campus: 10 percent are Asian
American, 30 percent African American, 25 percent Hispanic and 35
percent white," Price said.

The report also found that charter schools in California,
despite the claims of advocates, cannot be given full credit for
improving the academic achievement of their students.

Wells says that charter schools rarely provide clear definitions
of their goals and how performance will be measured.

"When we asked charter school founders and organizers what their
goals were, they rarely related to accountability in terms of a
state-imposed test," Wells said.

"They see themselves accountable to their own vision, which may
be different from the state’s," she said.

Founders, however, say they must meet all state standards, plus
their own – which they say are sometimes harder to accomplish.

"We are held responsible for everything we do, and we want to do
our best," Price said.

"What makes charter schools so successful is that we hold
ourselves accountable. Also, we must submit annual reports of our
successes and failures to the state," he said.

The report concluded that a new system of standards is needed in
order to truly hold charter schools accountable.

Also, the report says that these schools must be forced to abide
by state laws and give equal access to all students who want to
attend the school.

"We hope our research raised serious questions about the claims
made by charter school advocates as to the power of accountability
and choice to improve the efficiency and quality of charter schools
over other public schools," Wells said.

The study surveyed ten charter schools in California, with the
results available to the public on Dec. 3, 1998. The study also
found that:

* Charter schools are at the forefront of privatization.

* There is a lack of communication between charter schools and
public schools.

* State funding should be targeted to charter schools in
low-income communities.

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