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         The war over charter schools goes on but, despite the opposition, the outcome is no longer in doubt.
 
         There are now nearly 4,000 charter schools with perhaps more than 1,000,000 students, with California alone having 200,000 students in 574 charter schools.  That's a bit less than 350 students per school indicating the ongoing tendency of charter schools to be much smaller than conventional public schools and one reason, many believe, for their increasing success.  The average enrollment would be even less if it were not for the fact that a number of public schools, each enrolling more than 1,000 students, have converted to charter status in that state.
 
         Pennsylvania, with a bit more than one-third the population of California, has 117 actual charter schools which enroll 50,000 students, thus averaging a bit more than 425 students each.  But the Keystone State is also indicative of the variety of charter schools because in addition to the 117 with buildings, the state has a dozen cyber schools.  An example is the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School which has a main office in West Chester, nearly Philadelphia.  Most of its 57 teachers are headquartered there but its 1400 students are distributed around the state.  Another feature of its student body is that about 30 percent of them had been home-schooled prior to enrollment.
 
         A July 8th news release from www.MaximsNews.com reported some findings from the Gates Foundation Report on Education.  The Foundation has spend about $1 billion to improve the nation's high schools, one result of which has been the creation of more than 1,600 high schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia.   The results are already positive.
 
         For example, 152 new high schools which opened in September 2002 have graduated their first classes. Collectively they have a graduation rate of 73 percent.  This is better than the 58.2 for the district as a whole.  More significantly it is far better than the public schools from which the students came where graduating rates ranged from 31 to 51 percent.
 
         Around the nation a number of schools that received foundation grants have 100% of their graduates going on to a college or university.  These include Cesar Chavez In Washington DC where more than 80% of its college-bound students are the first in their families to do so, and they have awarded over $2 million in financial aid for the next four years.
 
         Others in the 100% college acceptance category are Meet West High school in Oakland, California, Cristo Rey Network's North Cambridge Catholic High School in Boston, Verbum Dei High School in Los Angeles and YES College Preparatory Schools in Houston.
 
         Perhaps the most unusual result, and a possible model for future schools of a different nature, is The Academy for Math, Engineering and Science in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Not only does it have a successful graduation rate but every one of those graduates will receive an Associate's degree from the University of Utah.
 
         These results are by no means one-time events.   There is Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago which has a somewhat longer track record.  Every one of its graduates for the last five years have been accepted by colleges and universities.
 
         Different in another way and, in fact, in a unique category, are an elementary and a secondary charter school in New York City.  They are the only charter schools in the nation which are union-run, the union, of course, being New York City's United Federation of Teachers (UFT).
 
         The elementary school opened last year and had 170 students apply for the 81 openings in its kindergarten and first grade.  Second grade will be added this year.  The secondary school opens in September with a sixth grade and will add one grade per year.  615 students have applied 125 seats.  The elementary schools had 800 applications for its 12 staff openings and the secondary school has 761 teacher applying for 15 positions.
 
         This is not unusual for charter schools, although the ratios may be somewhat higher.
 
         This makes it difficult for the UFT, or its parent AFT, and rival NEA, to say charter schools don't work.
 
         Not that they won't try.

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         "Hundreds of parents are waiting for enrollment openings at Utah County's three charter schools...The 18 charter schools in Utah have a combined waiting list of 1,796 students...3,445 students are attending the schools."  "Waiting lists long for charter schools," deseretnews.com,   October 23, 2003

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Copyright 2006 David W. Kirkpatrick
108 Highland Court,
Douglassville, Pennsylvania 19518-9240
Phone: (610) 689-0633