The Associated Press thinks charter schools are bad, apparently, because minority families like them so much:
Charter schools are among the nation’s most segregated, an Associated Press analysis finds — an outcome at odds, critics say, with their goal of offering a better alternative to failing traditional public schools.
National enrollment data shows that charters are vastly over-represented among schools where minorities study in the most extreme racial isolation. As of school year 2014-2015, more than 1,000 of the nation’s 6,747 charter schools had minority enrollment of at least 99 percent, and the number has been rising steadily.
The problem: Those levels of segregation correspond with low achievement levels at schools of all kinds.
Did it ever occur to the AP that charter schools wouldn’t be so segregated if all students had access to the type of school they want to attend? Minority students are flocking to charters because they desperately want an alternative. Universal school choice provides alternatives all families want, regardless of race or class.
SOURCE: The Associated Press
IN THIS ISSUE:
- NORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina is quickly becoming a leader in the education choice movement with more vouchers.
- COLORADO: Colorado’s much storied Douglas County voucher program will be voted on at a special meeting tomorrow.
- DETROIT: A Detroit district is fighting against a charter school using an old elementary school building.
- ARIZONA: Advocates and proponents of ESAs are facing off in Arizona court.
Common Core and Curriculum Watch
- HOMEWORK: A school in the Bronx is giving parents homework to increase parent involvement in students’ schoolwork.
- VIOLENCE: Students who experience violence as children are less likely to graduate high school, a new study shows.
- TINY HOMES: Some people in Arizona think tiny homes for teachers are a good idea.
- INDIANA: Kids as young as five-years-old may have to start going to school in Indiana.
- DeVOS: U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says our nation is “at risk.”
Teresa Mull is a policy advisor for education and an editor at The Heartland Institute.
