Karen Martinez is the mother of seven children, the first five of whom she says struggled to succeed in the traditional education system. By the time her second youngest was in first grade, Karen says she was too frustrated to stay in the traditional school anymore. Now, after attending Rocketship Charter Schools, her daughter is in fifth grade reading at a sixth grade level. “And this is a child that they said had special needs,” says Karen.
“What they’ve done for her has boosted her confidence, given her the ability to feel like she can learn, and made us as parents feel like we made the right decision,” Karen says. She also has a message for parents who feel frustrated with their children’s schools:
What I’m saying out there to other parents is “Don’t give up.” Anything that is worth something takes hard work and dedication. Don’t give up on your kids. They are worth it. You know it. I know it as a parent. Fight for what you believe is right. Your children, our children, deserve high-quality education. It’s up to us to go out there, get it, and bring it to our communities.
Charter schools work….17% of the time. If that was the success rate in my classroom, the education system would have given up on me long ago. According to the most comprehensive comparison of charter schools to public schools performed by Stanford University, 83% of charter school students are performing worse or at the same levels than their public school peers (OVER ON THIRD are performing worse). Look at the actual study!
http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/PA%20State%20Report_20110404_FINAL.pdf
Stop falling for the distractions that keep us from the real goal FULLY FUND PUBLIC EDUCATION.
I just looked over this article about the CREDO study: http://www.educationvoters.org/2012/01/20/the-center-for-education-reform-fact-checking-charter-school-achievement/#comments so please check it out. No study is perfect, but it bears hearing where the methodolgy on the CREDO study was weak.
I agree that we need to fully fund education first, but I disagree with the sentiment that charters are antithetical to that goal.
There is nothing that a charter school can do that a public school cannot do.
The instructional strategy used at Rocketship, hybrid classes, can be used at a public school. They are doing it at Queen Anne Elementary School, a public elementary school in Seattle. If we want the innovation we can have it. If we want the strategy, we can have it.
There is nothing that a charter school can do that a public school cannot do.