Healthy Competition

I recently attended a charter school fair that received some press from the Buffalo News. I was a little surprised that this event received the attention that it did, as similar "next schools" events have become fairly standard in communities where there is robust competition and a market effect around educational options.

When I did my graduate work in the late 1990s, one of the research projects that I worked on was a study of the nascent charter school movement in New Jersey soon after a charter school law was put in place. I personally had the opportunity to visit many of the original 13 schools that were founded in 1996 and our research team conducted extensive interviews with constituents from these schools in an attempt to tease out what their existence might do to the educational landscape.

At the time, one of the conclusions we reached was:

"The results of charter schools should be considered as a whole. The charter school movement should not be celebrated with one or two schools that stand out as shining stars, nor should it be damned by one or two abysmal disappointments. Beyond the constituents of the schools, success of failure needs to be measured, in part, by the impact of charter schools on the wider educational system. Charter schools touch the core of our nation's most pressing problems of equity and excellence -- issues that warrant our most thoughtful consideration." 1

In the ten years since this study, the original 13 schools have expanded t0 62 schools, and all but one are still in operation. Proof to me that charter schools are a "game-changer" for district schools, and that there is a hunger for small, "independent public schools," that will make good on their promise of trading autonomy from state regulations and union forces for accountability for results. I met a lot of good people and excellent educators when conducting this study, which helped me to understand that public schools are not intentionally monolithic, but instead seemed to be yoked under historical and bureaucratic structures that they can't seem to shake off.

Will charter schools ultimately pose real competition to independent schools like Park? I think it is too early to tell, as many of these schools focus on under-served student populations and still don't fully enjoy the wide freedoms or all of the experience and resources that flow from independent schools' long history.

Regardless, long ago I made an uneasy peace with that fact that I serve a population that already has so much. I believe that doing so allows me to do my best work, in partnership with families who have both the will and the resources to provide the best possible education for their children. I wish that I could provide this standard of education to everyone, because all of us want what's best for our children.

I can't, but perhaps charter schools bring us all one step closer.

1. New Jersey Charter Schools: The First Year 1997-1998, Professor Pearl Rock Kane, et. al., Teachers College, Columbia University