Like many public schools, some charter schools probably do great things. And although I have not observed the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) charter schools or examined the data on which its reputation is based, I suspect it’s doing some great things. But after 40-plus years in general and special education and observations of innumerable private and public schools, I don’t believe in broad, sustained educational miracles. Despite the possibility that the HCZ is doing some great things, it may be one of dozens of charter school miracles that’s far more hype than miracle.
Here’s what Diane Rativtch, Research Professor of Education at New York University and former Assistant Secretary of Education in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, recently wrote about Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone:
The HCZ “is an antipoverty program in Harlem that provides a broad array of medical and social services to children and families, such as health programs, preschool, after-school tutoring, and parenting classes. Its three charter schools are far better funded than nearby regular public schools. Its small high school has classes of fewer than fifteen students with two licensed teachers in each classroom. Because it has a very wealthy board of trustees, HCZ has an endowment of $200 million. Even with the ample resources available to HCZ, its charters had many students in 2010 who did not meet state standards for proficiency in reading: 62 percent in one school, and 38 percent in the other. In the seventh grade, where students were in their third year, only 15 percent met state standards. When Geoffrey Canada first recruited students to his charter middle school, they entered with low scores; after three years, when their scores remained low, he kicked out the entire class. The neighborhood public schools can’t do this.” (Diane Rativtch, updated version of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/reports-on-charter-schools-expose-new-problems/2011/10/31/gIQAcMye3M_blog.html).
This is not a condemnation of the HCZ. It is a condemnation of the belief that charter schools can perform miracles and that by definition they offer a better education than the Voorhees Township Public Schools.
Howard Margolis, Ed.D.
Voorhees
