Schoolhouse Rock
Strong points of view were expressed on last Friday’s post, as tensions flared over issues of gentrification, affordable-housing and racial stereotypes here in Harlem.
One issue that was lightly touched upon—and is about to take center stage—is education. It’s a topic that Harlem parents will watch closely this week, as state lawmakers are scheduled to make a controversial decision affecting the educational future of neighborhood children.
With students in Harlem’s public schools generally performing worse on city and state standardized tests than public school students in other New York neighborhoods, the charter school has become the great Harlem hope for parents.
Free to students, charter schools are independent public schools that operate under a five-year performance contract or "charter." Harlem has the largest concentration of charters of all school districts in the city—18 out of 47 are located in this neighborhood, with plans for at least two more to open in the coming school year.
But the law limits the number of such schools to 100 statewide, and now all of those charters have been doled out. As part of the budget negotiations in Albany, Governor George Pataki has called for lifting the cap from 100 to 250, but the Republican-controlled Senate wants to keep the charter issue separate from the budget.
Opponents argue that the charter schools are funneling much-needed dollars away from the public school system and that public dollars should not be used for schools that operate outside of local oversight.
In addition, some argue that there are a disproportionate amount of charters already in Harlem, and question whether this neighborhood should have more. Of the 1.1 million students in New York City, only about 30,000 of them are in Harlem, yet a third of the city's charter schools are here.
Although early evidence shows the charter schools here are working to increase students' level of education, many question if it's enough. Even if state lawmakers vote to increase the limit of charter schools, will the schools admit enough students to boost the median grade of the neighborhood? How will this educational equation add up here in Harlem?
posted by Rachel Natalie Klein at 12:16 AM
5 Comments:
The NYC public school system is terrible and not just in Harlem. Parents in the city pay upwards of 30K a year for private schools to keep their kids out of the public schools. If legislators are going to boost the # of charter schools in the city, the new schools should get placed all around the city and not disproportionately clustered in & around Harlem. That's unfair to other city children whose parents can't afford private school either.
As an educator, I've found that the charter school solution has been a good model for "urban" areas. Of course we won't know the full benefits until 15-20 years down the road but it is better than letting children just rot their lives away in sub-par schools.
Albert obviously doesn't understand how the charter school system is set up. It isn't as simple as saying I want to open a charter school in Harlem. Do some research. A charter school is NOT the same thing as a private school.
As a youth worker in Harlem, I am happy to see people at least try something new to get our kids caught up, prepared and excited to learn. As a former public school teacher in the Bronx, I have to say that innovation is usually a good thing. The way the schools have been running is NOT working. Kids spend all their time working on testprep, and no time enjoying learning, experimenting, with ideas and absorbing knowledge. Teachers are treated like crap, given little autonomy or respect and end up leaving (ahem) because they feel ineffective in a monstrous system of failure. It's depressing. So if charter schools can help change that, go for it.
Also, if people took a look at the statistics in Harlem, as opposed to other parts of the city, they would see that perhaps the need is higher here. Of course there are other needy areas, but this is certainly high on the list. And it isn't just like "Wham!" I'll open a charter school. It takes a lot of bureaucracy, investing and long-term planning to get through all the red tape to make any changes at all.
As a NYC public school teacher myself, I'm reticent to hold strong convictions on the matter (other than saying innovation is needed like snowflake) because the issue is more complex than the problems that created the need for charter schools in the first place.
The NYC public school system is the biggest corporation in the state. It serves 1 million kids and has a staff of over 80,000. Any talk of change and efficiency must take this fact to heart. Next, drop-out rates for blacks and Hispanics remain somewhere near 60% in the city. The disproportionate amount of white students in private schools and in highly selective public schools is another problem. The question regarding charter schools should be conducted in a debate that understands Bloomberg's and Klein's vision and proposed models for improvement. This discussion should take note of the consequences and failed goals of No Child Left Behind and finally recognize that there is absolutely nothing fair, save Democratic, about public education in this country. Is it fair that a disproportionate # of charter schools reside in Harlem? Not sure. No one’s commented on how this ‘fact’ came to be. Is it fair that all of my students in a 'Title I' school are 60% Black, 40% Hispanic and mostly poor (95% qualify to receive free school lunch)? Certainly not. I have friends who work at charter schools in Harlem and they've told me that they view these 'insecure experiments' as successful. I was told it's demanding as there is more work to be done by fewer people but that it’s a challenge they welcome at $39 k a year. In the end, questioning the validity or fairness of charter schools' existence is akin to criticizing the only doctor in a completely dilapidated clinic. While it’s fun to critique, the best course of action may just be to fund a new clinic and find a new doctor. Simple, right?
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