Monday, March 05, 2012

New York City charter schools have a higher percentage of better teachers than public schools

It's no surprise that NYC charter school teachers did well overall on the value-added rankings, given the overall quality of NYC's charter schools (varied, but many exceptional schools and, overall, MUCH better than nearby alternative regular public schools):

The newly released records indicate charters have higher performing teachers than regular public schools — and they know what to do with instructors who don't make the grade.

"Teachers [who don't perform\] lose their jobs in charter land," said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, a nonprofit that helps new charter schools get started and supports existing ones.

The privately run, publicly funded schools have drawn praise for eliminating poor-performing teachers faster than traditional public schools.

At Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy One, two instructors who

were rated low or below average in both math and English in 2010 no longer work at the charter school.

Parents at the 125th St. school weren't surprised that the two instructors no longer had jobs.

"Those teachers aren't here anymore. That should tell you something," said Quantara Shabazz, 47, an MTA conductor whose daughter Tahna Langly, 12, is a sixth-grader.

"This is a great school. We are blessed," Shabazz added.

About 10 blocks away from Promise Academy One, another charter school and a public school share a building. They had very different results on the teacher evaluations.

KIPP Infinity Charter School had two teachers with the top multiple year scores in the rankings system and several above average in 2009-2010 alone, according to a Daily News analysis.

But teachers at Intermediate School 195 in Harlem — who share the W. 133rd St. building with KIPP — scored far lower, with not a single one earning high or above average marks in the most recent year.

Parents whose kids attend the struggling public school, which is set to close for poor performance in 2013, were shocked the charter did so well.

"Wow. How do they do that?" asked Erika Thomas, whose son Erik is a fourth-grader at IS 195.

"My son's school is being phased out," said Thomas. "We were short-changed. But that's history now."


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Education

New York City charter schools have a higher percentage of better teachers than public schools

They also have the ability to fire bad teachers more quickly

By Tina Moore , Ken Lovett , Ben Lesser AND Ben Chapman / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 10:21 PM

www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/york-city-charter-schools-a-higher-percentage-better-teachers-public-schools-article-1.1030231#ixzz1nv9QEI00

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