Closing Time

A wise Op Ed from Dallas about the need to change Texas law to expand successful charter schools -- and shut down the bad ones:

On the positive side, there are the KIPP  charter schools around Texas, which pride themselves on long school days and  Saturday sessions to give students a boost. KIPP schools like the middle  school academy in Houston earn the state's top rankings. It's time to take  those ideas into a few regular public schools in Dallas to see if the results  can be duplicated.
 
Likewise, some middle schools could learn  from the techniques the PEAK Advantage charter in Dallas uses. Unlike most  middle schools, PEAK, which covers grades 6 through 10, earned a coveted  "exemplary" ranking from the state.
 
But other charters have flopped horribly,  usually because they lack a good business plan and demanding classes. Kids stuck in them are better off in a regular public school, even a weak one.  
 
The uneven results suggest it's time that  legislators take Texas' charter experiment to the next level. That means  closing down the bad schools and investing more funds in the successful ones.  (Charter schools don't receive state money for facilities, so even good ones  race around to find building money.)

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Closing Time
Dallas News, Monday, August 20, 2007

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-charters_20edi.ART.State.Edition1.420bf53.html

One reason Texas joined the charter school movement a decade ago was to develop successful, alternative ways of educating students that could also be used in public schools. The thinking was that the traditional schools could learn from the more loosely regulated charters about what works in the classroom and what doesn't.