The State of Charter Schools

For an interesting summary of the current state of the charter school movement, see Chester Finn here. While Finn is known to be an advocate for charter schools, it should be noted that his analysis emphasizes that not all schools claiming the charter name are created equal. Finn says that some of them have been "fantastic," others "abysmal."

By coincidence, I heard a speaker this morning criticize charter schools, claiming that they are the solution of a society that is unwilling to invest in minority children. The truth is exactly the opposite. Many charter schools represent efforts to bring quality schooling to areas where the public schools have failed horribly and entrenched powers make it impossible to make needed changes.