Charter school scores down, study shows (AP)

Ron Burgundy · 08-22-2006, 11:40 AM

AP - Fourth graders in traditional public schools score better in reading and math than students in charter schools, according to a government report that is likely to spur a fresh debate over the benefits of school choice.

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Thorgrim · 08-22-2006, 11:56 AM

studies > libertarians

JaJae · 08-22-2006, 01:19 PM

Public schools teach to the test since their funding depends on it. Charter schools don't give a damn.

It's either that or NCLB is working so effectively that liberals shouldn't be bragging about this news story.

WickedLou9 · 08-22-2006, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by JaJae

Public schools teach to the test since their funding depends on it. Charter schools don't give a damn.

so is the problem the public school or the testing?

JaJae · 08-22-2006, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

so is the problem the public school or the testing?

Neither. I think the testing is good. It forces schools to pick up the slack in areas where they've fallen behind.

I have a friend who moved from NJ to Homosassa, Florida. His brother was about to go to the middle school that I went to so his parents decided to move then before he went to the "dangerous" school. He was a slightly below average student, likely due to his ADHD.

He gets to Florida and his placement tests put him at almost the 8th grade level (2 full grade levels). They only bumped him up one grade to 7th so he wouldn't be too much younger than his classmates. They tested him again to see if he was a "prodigy", and in Florida he was.

In central NJ, he was a below average ADHD kid. In Florida he's Doogie Howser. This shouldn't be in America. Everyone should be entitled to a decent education, even if the state doesn't want to provide it. Something needs to be done to uniformly test schools in America so they can be compared.

motivez · 08-22-2006, 02:08 PM

Maybe the problem is that the children who "normally" go to private schools live in more wealthy homes, with a more stable home life, with parents who have the time to spend with their children, who have a better parenting ethic when it comes to schooling than people who send their children to public school?

And that when you start mixing in a bunch of public school kids from these less wealthy families, who don't spend the same time, who dont have the same quality home life, they don't score as well because they don't have the same resources available to them?