Nicholas Kristoff explains the “axiom of America today”:
Talent is universal, but opportunity is not.
Chipping away at these cycles of poverty isn’t easy, and we won’t have perfect success. But we aren’t even trying. We aren’t even paying attention.
One group, especially, is not paying attention.
The moral superiority of élites comes cheap. Recently, Murray has done demographic research on “Super Zips”—the Zip Codes of the most privileged residents of New York, Washington, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. “Super Zips are integrated in only one way—Asians,” he said. “Blacks and Latinos are about as scarce in the Super Zips as they were in the nineteen-fifties.” Multiethnic America, with its tensions and resentments, poses no problem for élites, who can buy their way out. “This translates into a whole variety of liberal positions”—Murray mentioned being pro-immigration and anti-school choice—“in which the élite has not borne any of the costs.”
Meanwhile…
Striking new research suggests on the “rat race” to enroll in elite schools might not be worth it, and that we may be judging school quality the wrong way.
But what if the high school rat race is largely for naught. That’s the provocative conclusion of a new study that examined students who attended public high schools in Chicago. Surprisingly, students at selective-enrollment schools didn’t seem to benefit academically compared with similar students at different schools.
“There is a lot of competition for students to get into selective-enrollment high schools,” said Marisa de la Torre, a co-author of the study and an associate director at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. “What the study says is, it’s not the end of the world if you cannot get into selective-enrollment high schools.”
However, the study found that students at selective schools were less likely to be suspended or to miss school and reported that they felt safer. In addition, students who attended high-scoring non-selective schools did see academically significant benefits relative to those at low-achieving schools.
Private school choice programs — both city-based and statewide — continue growing in Wisconsin. The state’s new special needs scholarship draws more 200 students in its first year.
It’s been all over social media, but in case you missed it, John Legend is more thoughtful on charter schools than most professional education pundits.
Charter public schools are not the solution to every problem that’s plaguing public education. The NAACP is right to raise some questions over the practices of some individual charter schools. There are schools of all models — district, charter, magnet, private – that are failing to educate our kids properly and accountable. States and districts should hold all of these school types to high standards of accountability.
What’s shortsighted about the NAACP’s decision is that it’s ignoring the many successful charter schools that are delivering results for many communities. In New York City, third grade charter school students outscored students at district schools in math and in English. Charters here are closing the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged Black students and their more affluent white peers.
Public schools continue growing in the nation’s capital, with the vast majority of new students enrolling in charters.
Closures of low-performing schools could be imminent in Denver.
The American Federation for Children profiles top principals in choice schools: A Milwaukee Lutheran school principal whose school benefits from parental choice programs, a Navajo principal who returns home, and the leader of a Notre Dame ACE Academy in Tuscon.
Prospective state education chiefs agree: Keep rural school choice programs in place in Vermont. Raise public-school funding in Indiana.
Fiscal notes: How charters are a financial and academic boon to Massachusetts. How funding mechanisms differ for school vouchers. For the umpteenth time, charters are not to blame for Florida’s school facility funding woes.
If the Trump Train derails a bunch of state-level and congressional Republicans, what will that mean for ed reform?
In another blow to efforts to vindicate children’s education rights through the courts, a judge tosses a Vergara-style lawsuit in Minnesota.
Could a failure to accommodate suburban politics doom Massachusetts’ charter school initiative? Gov. Charlie Baker goes door to door in Lowell supporting efforts to lift the cap.
Charter school students are distributed differently than they traditional-school peers.
Tweets of the Week
wonks too often make policy for their own kids. Not the kids who need growth most @matt_barnum @MichaelPetrilli @NeeravKingsland
— Good Egg (@SethAndrew) October 25, 2016
Bottom line: NAEP science gains result from culture of high expectations, #STEM focus & effective teaching @TNedu https://t.co/DlQs0WhhKr
— Candice McQueen (@McQueenCandice) October 29, 2016
I have kids in public and private schools. My choices should not be dependent on fact I can afford it. #liftthecap https://t.co/6uRp5R5DAm
— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) October 28, 2016
This Week in School Choice is our weekly compendium of news and notes from around the country. Sign up to get it in your inbox, and send tips, feedback or pushback to tpillow[at]sufs[dot]org. Please note: We’ll be taking a break from now until the Monday after Thanksgiving.
