National Charter School Conference in Chicago

I was at the National Charter School Conference in Chicago this week – it was amazing!    

The highlight for me was meeting Bill Gates after his fabulous opening speech (posted here: www.gatesfoundation.org/speeches-commentary/Pages/bill-gates-2010-national-charter-schools-conference.aspx).  I was VERY impressed: he REALLY understands this issue and is clearly passionate about it.

When I speak about our Foundation's work in education, one of the questions I get all the time, and sometimes even in a sort of accusatory tone is, "Is it true that you support charter schools?" Well, I love that question because I like to answer yes, we are guilty as charged.

I've had a chance to visit a number of charter schools. One of the most memorable visits was a few years ago in Houston, Texas - [applause] - where Melinda and I got to see both KIPP and YES work there. And we were amazed by what we saw, and we'd agreed that those schools were good enough that we'd feel great sending our kids to those schools as much as any school, private or public, in the country.

The results that high-performance charters like KIPP and YES are getting are astounding, especially when you compare them to the schools nearby. The graduation rate in Houston independent school district is under seventy percent, but at these charter schools, over 95% graduate, and over 90% go on to college.

Sitting in the KIP classroom - and yes, classroom - show me that the statistics alone don't capture the magic of what's going on. The atmosphere was totally different than what I'd experienced in my high school years or in any classroom I'd been in. The teacher was constantly on the move, scanning the room for students who weren't engaged. He was finding creative ways to get everyone to participate. There was a very high level of energy. At times, I felt like I was at a pep rally instead of in a math class.

At the end of the day, I asked one of the teachers what they liked about their work, and he said the key thing was that by teaching there, he could be sure his students had all teachers who were effective, all teachers who cared about that student, and that in the future grades, particularly there, where there was a charter high school, that throughout their education, everything that that teacher worked on would be reinforced so that his hard work would end up making a difference in those students' lives.

Nelson Smith, the outgoing President of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (of which I'm proud to be on the board), deserves much of the credit for building the Alliance into the respected, effective, influential organization that it is today, and he will be missed! 

Filling Nelson's big shoes and taking the Alliance (and the charter school movement) to the next level is Peter Groff, who's been an amazing education reform warrior, both in his home state of Colorado, where he was the first black President of the CO State Senate, and nationally (his most recent position was director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. DOE).  Below is the announcement, and here's a 1-min video he taped: http://blip.tv/file/3824639  

Last but not least, of course DFER was in the house!