Canadians can learn from US charter schools

Canadians should pay heed to Wednesday's Wall Street Journal which discusses current education research out of the United States. Researchers are finding education outcomes from US charter schools are not only outpacing public schools, but that public schools results are being positively influenced by having charter schools located nearby (No Child Left Behind: New evidence that charter schools help even kids in other schools, Wall Street Journal November 4, 2009)

The option of having publicly funded charter schools open to all parents is influencing public schools to be more effective.

"Stanford economist Caroline Hoxby recently found that poor urban children who attend a charter school from kindergarten through 8th grade can close the learning gap with affluent suburban kids by 86% in reading and 66% in math. And now Marcus Winters, who follows education for the Manhattan Institute, has released a paper showing that even students who don't attend a charter school benefit academically when their public school is exposed to charter competition.
Mr. Winters focuses on New York City public school students in grades 3 through 8. "For every one percent of a public school's students who leave for a charter," concludes Mr. Winters, "reading proficiency among those who remain increases by about 0.02 standard deviations, a small but not insignificant number, in view of the widely held suspicion that the impact on local public schools . . . would be negative." It turns out that traditional public schools respond to competition in a way that benefits their students.
Imagine that. Competition works."

This is good news for students in the U.S. and it is especially interesting news for educators in Canada that are currently operating in systems that are failing to meet the educational needs of disadvantaged students, Indigenous students in Canada being a prime example. With funding rates that are 20 - 30 % below our provincial counterparts; overcrowding; and a historical mistrust of education systems in Canada dating back to the residential schools era, Canada's on reserve First Nation's schools are falling further and further behind. Provincial public systems are fairing no better when it comes to meeting the needs of off reserve Indigenous students - with graduation rates that are significantly below mainstream averages.

If you are unfamiliar with Charter Schools, as most Canadians are (Alberta is the only province that supports charter schools) they are essentially publicly funded schools that have loosened regulatory oversight in exchange for clearly defined achievement and accountability outcomes attached to their mandate (their charter). Parents that live in an area with a charter school can apply to send their child to the school at no cost to themselves. Many charter schools focus on themes in their programming. There are fine arts, science, theatre and culture based schools. Culture based charter schools including such schools as the Cesar Chavez Public Charter School, the Hmong College Prep Academy, Kua O Ka La Public Charter School (Native Hawaiian) and numerous Native American equivalents that are demonstrating significant improvements in closing the gap between disadvantaged students and mainstream students.

These culture based charter schools are including cultural learning outcomes in their school improvement plans and parents (of a variety of cultures and ethnicities) are choosing to send their children there. Some of them are also significantly noticing that beyond the stand alone importance of continuing cultural retention and transmission that increased exposure to and inclusion of culture in the schools is increasing core academic outcomes. Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii conducted research that concludes culture based education positively influences student performance outcomes on state assessments for math and English. This is a key factor for Canadian educators of all stripes to notice.

The lessons to be learned from Canadian educators are twofold. Public systems need to open themselves to competition and the increased results, cultural, linguistic and academic that this encourages. Charter schools need to be encouraged. Further Indigenous parents, educators and students need to support the idea of locally driven collaborative schools, with accountability measures attached, in competitive environments that have stimulated such growth in learning outcomes for disadvantaged students in the US.

Note: Alberta has three publicly funded charter schools with an Indigenous focus.