Newly minted Secretary of Education Gerard Robinson will introduce two words new to most Virginians outside of Albemarle County and Arlington: charter schools. In this Op Ed, well-known education policy analyst Andy Rotherham of the think tank Education Sector notes:
The governor-elect can change that and bring more federal education dollars into Virginia. In Albemarle County, Superintendent Pam Moran is using chartering to improve the schools, and in Arlington, parents used to sleep on the sidewalks waiting in line for that county’s choice options. There is demand and need for more public options in Virginia.
This issue will likely be a hot-topic during the 2010 General Assembly and throughout the Commonwealth in the coming months. There will also be lots of “reform grammar” that constituents will need to work though, so, let’s start with the fundamentals–what charter schools are, and what they are not.
Charter schools are indeed public schools–supported by public funding–so let’s move forward with the primer. Josh Cook, a teacher/leader at Green Dot Animo Justice in South Central, L.A. (full bio), drafted the following series of posts for Edurati Review several months ago. Let’s go there next…
- Part 1: Why Change is Necessary.
- Part 2: What is a Charter School?
- Part 3: Criticisms of Charter Schools.
- Part 4: Smaller is Better.
- Part 5: Separate… but Better?
Josh’s series is certainly not meant to serve as evidence in one way or another on whether charter schools are right for Virginia (or anywhere else), but merely as way to build some background knowledge for lots of discussion to follow. There are plenty of opinions on the charter model–and even a little research. We’ll be exporing those at a later time. Until then…
