Give Choice a Chance

The Tribune has a story on the efforts of a Chicago school to give high school dropouts a second chance. The article notes this:

In Illinois, an estimated 210,000 young people ages 16 to 24 are not in school and do not have a high school diploma, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data. In Chicago, almost half the students who begin high school never finish.

Most of them are boys. You have to read almost to the end of the story to find out that the school is part of a charter school--the Youth Connection Charter School.

Yet Illinois law caps the number of charter schools. Why? And why isn't this successful model replicated in the public schools? You know the answer as well as I--the teachers' unions block real reforms and keep mediocre teachers on the payroll. Former Reagan-era Secretary of Education Bill Bennett was in town this Sunday and made some remarks on the subject of education in Chicago, which hasn't changed much in 25 plus years. At the time, Bennett said that Chicago schools were the worst in America. When he visited the city, school officials were upset and said they had many good schools. Bennett asked to see one. They said, let us get back to you. They finally came up with LaSalle Language Academy in Lincoln Park. Bennett recalled the principal had the philosophy that parents were allies---"not all teachers are parents, but all parents are teachers", and the district let her choose her own teachers and pay them on merit. Bennett asked the head of the school board, why not try this throughout the system? The response was that about one-third of the teachers no principal would want, and if parents had the choice, some schools would be empty. In fact, at the time, some schools at times were empty--they had a 100% dropout rate.

According to Bennett, surveys of public school teachers in Chicago show they are twice as likely as the general public to send their kids to private schools. They know.

Americans embrace choice in every other realm. Why should we stand for a one-size-fits-all approach to the education of our children? Why should poor parents suffer their kids being locked in failing schools?

Carol Marin, in a conversation with the Rev. Meeks, sounded off recently:

Anybody who thinks Illinois' public school children don't live in a segregated land of economic educational disparity, has not been to North Lawndale and compared its classrooms with New Trier's.

Anybody who thinks that is a useful comparison is deluding themselves.

Liberals always think it's always about the money. For them and the teachers' union it is. For the kids it should be about education. There is no correlation between dollars and educational excellence. But for the sake of argument, let's accept the liberal premise-- what better way to ensure a fair distribution of resources than to have the education dollars follow the child? Special needs children should receive more as their needs are greater. Let's empower parents and let them vote for excellence with their feet. Let's have a child-centered approach to school funding.

Yesterday's change in Federal rules to allow single sex schools by the Bush administration's Dept. of Education encourages desperately needed flexibility and innovation to address underperformance and ease the gender gap in learning. According to the story in the NY Times, the bullies at the ACLU are considering flexing their reflexively liberal muscles on this issue. But underperformance, especially among some minorities, and especially among boys is undeniable. Boys learn differently and our public schools are failing them. You might say it's a matter of civil rights, ACLU.

The gender gap has been documented, (more commentary here), in urban and suburban schools. And single sex schools might help both girls and boys in recovering from the wrong-headed fuzzy math curriculum. Here's Tom Carroll of the Brighter Choice Charter Schools, in the NY Times story:

He said his schools’ research showed boys were stronger in math and girls were stronger in literacy. But in recently released test scores, he said, his schools did better than any other public schools in Albany. “Paradoxically, by educating them separately,” he said, “we were able to do much to reverse the gender gaps that typically leave girls behind in math and boys behind in literacy.”

All we are saying, is give choice a chance.

UPDATE: Voter Guide of the Center for Education Reform. Also Alliance for School Choice, another active group and resource.