OII: Office of Innovation and Improvement
Current Section

Charter Schools Offer Parents and Children Hope for a Brighter Life
Prepared by Assistant Deputy Secretary Nina S. Rees
Second Annual Maryland Charter Schools Conference

Archived Information


FOR RELEASE:
May 13, 2005
Speaker frequently
deviates from prepared text
Contact: Cynthia Dorfman
(202) 205-5560

Introduction

Thanks, Joni, for that kind introduction, and thank you for your hard work on behalf of Maryland parents and children.

It is my honor to be here with you this afternoon at the Second Annual Maryland Charter Schools Conference. On behalf of President Bush and Secretary Spellings, I want to commend you on the tremendous work those of you in this room and many others across the state are undertaking to expand options for Maryland parents and children.

As you know, I head up the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education. The Office coordinates the implementation and promotion of the public school choice and supplemental educational services provisions of NCLB. We also make strategic investments in innovative educational practices through two-dozen discretionary grant programs, including the Federal Charter Schools Program and the Credit Enhancement Program for Charter School Facilities.

My staff and I spend a lot of our time thinking about school choice, how we can support it, how we can measure it, and how we can expand it. And I would like to recognize two staff members from the Charter Schools Program who are here today, Dean Kern and Michael Schaefer. Thanks, Dean and Michael, for joining us, and thank you for all your work on behalf of charter schools across the country.


Charters and NCLB

When the President signed the historic No Child Left Behind Act, he sent a strong message to the nation that results matter, that innovation and flexibility are important, that using proven methods is critical and that parents deserve more options. Now those four qualities might sound a bit familiar to many of you. That's because they are, in effect, the charter school "model."

For the first time in our nation's history, under NCLB, schools are held accountable for the progress of each and every student, and obviously charter schools fit perfectly into that framework.

As you know, under NCLB, parents have more options when it comes to their children's education than they ever have had before. If their children are not learning—if a school is failing its mission—parents can choose free tutoring or after-school help, which we call supplemental educational services, or SES for short. Or they can send their children to a higher-performing public school, including public charter schools.


Beacons of Hope

Each and every day, charter schools are offering parents and children something more than just a quality education. They are offering hope—hope for a brighter future and for a better life.

Just last week, at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington, DC, I helped kick-off the festivities for National Charter Schools Week. I think Britnee Flowers, a tenth grader who spoke at the ceremony, summed up better than anyone else the hope charter schools offer:

"When my mom told me I was going to go to Thurgood Marshall, I begged her to let me stay in my old school," Britnee said. "But now, I see how my old school is, and then I look at what I have here at Thurgood Marshall, and I wouldn't want to be at any other school in the world. I get to do and learn things now that I used to only dream about."

Or consider the experience of Alicia Hall-Vicks: After her husband died, she was left to raise her two young sons alone. In order to survive on a single paycheck, Alicia moved in with her parents. When it came time to send her son Isaiah to school, Alicia was concerned. She had met with teachers at the local public school who told her that the elementary science program had just been eliminated. She knew that would never work for her aspiring astronaut!

Alicia was also worried about her son's safety, because she knew the school—the same school she had attended as a child—had become a dangerous place. And without a strong male role model at home, Alicia did not want her young, impressionable son exposed to that type of atmosphere. "I didn't want my son to go to a school that wouldn't meet his needs," Alicia said. "Our charter school gave me hope by giving me another choice. My Isaiah is safe, with the strong role models he needs, and is reaching for the stars."

These are just two examples of the countless parents and students across the nation who are being offered a renewed sense of hope through charter schools.

In addition to offering hope to parents and students, charter schools are also bringing hope to some of the nation's most distressed communities.

Infamous as the scene of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, South Central LA is comprised of mostly hardworking Latino and African-American families. Half of the residents of South Central never made it through the ninth grade, and almost as many earn less than $15,000 per year. Crime runs rampant throughout the community.

But Accelerated Charter Elementary School is a shining beacon of hope to the residents of this often neglected community. Accelerated School was born out of the efforts of two local educators, Kevin Sved and Jonathan Williams.

In 1992 Kevin and Jonathan, who were also leaders in the local teachers' union, teamed up in an effort to reform another South Central school. When bureaucrats halted their efforts in defense of the status quo, Kevin and Jonathan decided to submit an application to start their own charter school. Accelerated School opened in 1994 in a church social hall with two teachers—Kevin and Jonathan—and 50 students.

"We had to sell the people here on the idea that their kids can succeed," Jonathan reported. The kids at Accelerated are doing just that. In 2001, TIME Magazine named Accelerated "Elementary School of the Year," and the school has met their adequate yearly progress goal for 2004.

Since the Accelerated School opened, the community has been renewed. While South Central still faces many challenges, families are moving into the area, taking pride in their neighborhood, and sending their children to safer schools that provide a quality education.


A Record of Progress

After turning 13 years old this school year, we have seen a tremendous amount of progress in the charter school movement. It all started with one school in Minnesota that critics said would never work. But today, close to a million students are enrolled in over 3,400 charter schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia. While the progress in the charter school movement is encouraging, even more encouraging - and even more important - is the progress charter school students are making each and every day.

Now let me be clear. Charter schools as a whole are not the cure for everything. I have seen some great charter schools and some that are not doing that well. Overall though, most of the rigorous studies on charters show that, as a whole, these schools are tending to the unique needs of their student populations, and they are doing so, in most places, with less funding than the traditional public school system. Students are making faster progress in charters. And among those that are doing well, we have examples that debunk all of the myths associated with center city schools.

I know that Maryland is considering opening a KIPP Academy, so let's use the KIPP Bronx Academy in New York as an example. KIPP has a 100 percent minority student population, virtually every student qualifies for the federal free or reduced price lunch program, and when they first come to KIPP, students are on average two years behind grade level.

But KIPP teachers and administrators put in long hours, demand that their students meet high standards, and encourage parents to become involved in their children's education. The work may be hard, but the results are nothing less than inspiring: More than 86 percent of students test at or above grade level in math and nearly 70 percent in reading. For the past seven years, KIPP has been the highest performing middle school in the Bronx, and in the top 10 percent of all public schools in New York City.

Amistad Academy Charter School in Connecticut is another example. In fact, the New Haven Register has even called the school "No Child Left Behind in action." Their situation is similar to KIPP's: 97 percent of the students are African-American or Hispanic, almost 80 percent are economically disadvantaged, and most are typically two years behind grade level in reading and in math.

Amistad teachers and administrators are committed to excellence, and demand nothing less from their students. When they leave Amistad, students are either equaling or surpassing the scores of students in many of Connecticut's most affluent towns. In fact, in the area of writing, Amistad outscores all of Connecticut's wealthiest schools.

A recent study by Harvard University professor Caroline Hoxby found that students who attend well-established charter schools are more likely to be proficient in math and reading on their state's assessments than students in similar traditional public schools. Professor Hoxby also noted that charter schools are more likely to raise the achievement of students who are poor or Hispanic.

But, as you all know far too well, not everyone favors charter schools. You are in the midst of working against the headwind of a hostile political environment. It is difficult to tell what the greatest worry of the education establishment is—that you'll fail or that you'll succeed! We at the U.S. Department of Education obviously want you to succeed!


Charters in Maryland

While it has often been a bumpy road, the charter school movement is making progress in Maryland. We should all be encouraged by the 15 charter school proposals currently awaiting approval and the over 50 groups across the state that are in the planning stages of preparing charter school proposals. And what a tremendous victory for Maryland charter schools last Friday when your State Board of Education ruled that charter schools must be equitably funded! We support that decision whole-heartedly.

Fortunately for Maryland, you also have a wealth of advocates working alongside you to support more charter schools. The great work of the Maryland Charter School Network is commendable. As I travel the country, I have noticed that the charter school movement is the strongest in states that have the best charter school associations—that does not happen by accident! That bodes well for the future of the charter school movement in Maryland.

The Maryland State Board of Education, under the capable leadership of Superintendent Nancy Grasmick, is forging a cooperative and collaborative relationship with the Maryland Charter School Network that will greatly benefit Maryland parents seeking more charter school options for their children.

You also have strong and courageous elected officials, such as Governor Bob Ehrlich and Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele, who fought to bring charter schools to Maryland. And local leaders at the Baltimore City Council, who are working to ensure that charter schools are given a fair chance.

And I would be remiss not to mention the dedicated teachers and administrators at Monocacy Valley Montessori Charter Public School in Frederick County. These pioneers of the Maryland charter school movement are proving that charters work for Maryland parents and students. Their 180 pre-K through eighth graders are making progress every day. So it comes as no surprise that the school met their adequate yearly progress goal for 2004!


Federal Role in Charters

The President is committed to bringing more charter school options to parents across the country. That is why in his recent 2006 budget request to Congress, he proposed over $255 million to support charter schools, including $37 million to assist charter schools in obtaining school facilities.

Another important work charter schools are undertaking is helping to end what the President calls "the soft bigotry of low expectations." For far too long in this country, we have heard the excuses: "But our kids are poor," "Our kids are different." Making excuses does a great injustice to these children and to our country.

We all know the statistics:

Prior to NCLB, too many minority and low-income children were being left behind, trapped in underperforming schools that were failing them. When the President signed this historic bill into law, we as a nation made a commitment to all children: that each and every one of them can—and will—learn, regardless of their race, their income, or their zip code.

Thankfully, test scores for low-income and minority students are rising, and we are taking major strides in righting the injustice of low expectations. As we have seen in the examples such as KIPP Bronx Academy and Amistad Academy, and in many others across the country, charter schools are leading the way in closing the achievement gap and pursuing a solid education for all students.


Conclusion

The promise of charter schools is bright. I hope the next time I visit with you, I can boast about the number of high achieving charter schools in your state!

In a way, you are at an interesting juncture. On the one hand, you finally have a charter law and all the excitement that the opportunity to build new schools brings along. On the other hand, you have more experts than you care to hear from telling you how to build your schools. As someone who has been observing the growth of charter schools in the past decade, I'd like to leave you with a few thoughts/suggestions of my own:

1) You will be part of a movement whether you like it or not. Most of the charter operators I know are only interested in making sure that their schools succeed. And that's as it should be. You need to concentrate on your school, your teachers, and your students if you want to have a charter down the road. But realize that the work that you do will be scrutinized far more closely than ever before and that you need to be able to be both a principal and a public relations maven at the same time.

2) Pay attention to the financial side of your operation. Most of the schools that have been shut down over the past have been shut down because of some glitch in the school's finances. At times, it didn't matter how well the school operated, how dedicated the teachers were, or how high the test scores were. Again, you will be scrutinized carefully, and your role will be that of a principal and business leader, so either learn the business end of it or hire someone to figure it out for you. This also will help you in the long run—if you ever plan to expand or teach other schools how you keep your costs low while producing results.

3) Remember that charters were first seen as research and development centers, designed to help the public school system as a whole. But if you are being innovative, and no one is tracking what you are doing or how you are doing it, you will never be able to replicate your success or explain it to anyone but yourself. Along the same lines, and I know this is expensive, anything you can do now to lay the groundwork for a longitudinal study of your schools will greatly enhance our knowledge of chartering and enhance the future of charter schools.

Last but not least, call Dean if you need help with anything! He ran his own charter school before becoming a powerful federal bureaucrat. But he is and will remain a school principal at heart. We are lucky to have him but you all need to help him "keep it real," so to speak!

Thanks again for having me!

I would be happy to answer some of your questions.


 
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Last Modified: 05/10/2007