Teachers' Pet

I was shocked today to open the latest issue of Harvard magazine to find a long article extoling the virtues of charter schools.  Usually, Harvard magazine marches lockstep with the liberal wing of the Democrats, but this article was different.  It pointed out (1) that enrollment in charter schools has been rising steadily for many years, (2) that a clear majority parents of school age children, especially minority parents, support charter school expansion, and (3) that the reading and math levels for students in charter schools are much better than those in regular public schools.  That package of points is completely opposite from the anti-charter school nonsense being peddled these days by the Democrats and their masters in the teachers' unions.  According to the article, a detailed study in Philadelphia showed that by attending a charter school, the average student performed at a level that was the equivalent of getting an extra 45 days of instruction each year.  It's a convoluted way of making the point, but those 45 extra days means that charter school students who were equal in other characteristics did achieved results 15% better than their peers in the public schools.

This is all important stuff and it ought to sway the outcome of the public debate.  Years ago when charter schools were new, we were told that it would be unfair to compare the outcomes for students in each system against the other because most of the better students went to the charter schools.  That's no longer the case.  In Philadelphia where the study was performed, over 30% of students go to charter schools, so the sample in both systems is large enough to produce a fair comparison.  The clear outcome is that the charter schools produce better educated students BY FAR.

It's also interesting to see that Hillary Clinton remains tied to the teachers' unions so she opposes charter schools.  Donald Trump, however, strongly supports charter schools.  Indeed, Trump makes that support a large part of his pitch to minority voters in which he asks for their votes.  Since more than 60% of African American parents support increased numbers of charter schools, it will be instructive to see if that support results in higher levels of support for Trump.

The basic idea behind charter schools has always been that innovative schooling could outperform the rigid, dying model of public school education used in big cities.  Charter schools operate so as to put the education of the kids rather than the contract demands of the teachers' unions first.  The success of the charter school model shows the power of free market ideas and concepts in action.