Charter schools and equality of opportunity: a view from a distance Liz Gordon, Research Leader Pūkeko Research Ltd, Christchurch New Zealand. www.pukekoresearch.com

Charter schools – a view from a distance Google alerts: CHARTER SCHOOLS Not everything is going well in charter school land. Just in January so far Political problems: Lobbying Public or private? Challenges to law/ constitution issues Financial issues Misuse of funds, racketeering Debt Charging families for disciplinary infringements

Charter schools – a view from a distance School functioning Large numbers of children with disciplinary problems pushed out of charter schools High expulsion rates in charter schools Abrupt schools closures (x3) New networks, mergers and franchises The rise of online schools Other themes Attacks on teacher unions Under-valuing of the work of teachers Closing public schools and turning into charters Quantity – but how to ensure quality

Arguments for charter schools Meeting the needs of the under-served Systems that are local and set up to meet local needs Competition to raise whole system Increasing educational opportunities for all Choice is good – the more the better Education should be run more like a business High discipline models: protecting ‘our’ children For-profit education efficient and effective (as opposed to public education) Sustainability

Charter schools addressing inequality What models of schooling are being applied to the problem of social inequality in charter schools? Entry characteristics Disciplining the poor Ethnic schooling Religious education Regimes of schoolingness – KIPP and all that

How is your schooling system doing?

Problems The USA spends more per capita on schooling than every other country but one, and far more than any of the highest-performing countries, but manages only average performance. Twenty years of reform around market and choice-led approaches has not improved your average performance, nor your levels of social equity. The OECD has studied the characteristics of successful school systems across nations and concludes:

Problems “The most impressive outcome of world-class education systems is perhaps that they deliver high quality learning consistently across the entire education system, such that every student benefits from excellent learning opportunities. To achieve this, they invest educational resources where they can make the greatest difference, they attract the most talented teachers into the most challenging classrooms, and they establish effective spending choices that prioritise the quality of teachers”. “In short, many successful school systems share some common features: low levels of student differentiation; high levels of school autonomy in formulating curricula and using assessments with low levels of school competition; and spending in education that prioritises teachers’ salaries over smaller classes” “The degree of competition among schools is one way to measure school choice. Competition among schools is intended to provide incentives for schools to innovate and create more effective learning environments. However, cross-country correlations of PISA do not show a relationship between the degree of competition and student performance”.

OECD ‘lessons’ for America Developing a commitment to education and a conviction that all students can achieve at high levels Establishing ambitious, focused and coherent education standards that are shared across the system and aligned with high-stakes gateways and instructional systems Developing more capacity at the point of delivery Providing a work organisation in which teachers can use their potential: Management, accountability and knowledge management Institutionalising improved instructional practice Aligning incentive structures and engaging stakeholders Complementing accountability to agents outside schools with accountability professional colleagues and parents Investing resources where they can make the most difference Balancing local responsibility with a capable centre with authority and legitimacy to act The importance of workplace training to facilitate school-to-work transitions Ensuring coherence of policies and practices, aligning policies across all aspects of the system and over time and securing consistency of implementation Ensuring an outwards orientation of the system to keep the system evolving, and to recognise challenges and potential future threats to current success

America’s strengths Amount of money available for schooling (second highest in the world) History of successful change in education (early 20th century reforms, desegregation) An engine of innovation Concentration of education researchers highest in world.

The challenges of quality and equity To solve the problem of inequality need to look at whole system reform No system not good system