What are Charter Schools and do we want this type of reform in NZ?

The American movie Waiting for Superman has been doing the rounds on the NZ film festival circuit prompting comment and coverage about the need to implement similar educational reform here. The film champions Charter Schools, an initiative that establishes publically funded schools with significant autonomy from the exisiting public system. 

The arguments behind the initiative are compelling - Charter Schools will result in innovations in schooling, greater efficiency, higher levels of effectiveness and more equitable opportunities. In much of the US Charter Schools have become the main focus of educational reform. However, research into the reality of Charter Schools indicates that claims about the achievement of these objectives may not be backed by research evidence. 

A study by University of Illinois professor Chris Lubienski* (see video below) found that the greatest innovations in Charter Schools were in fact being made in the areas of administration and that many of the initiatives being claimed as educational innovations already occured in the public school system. Lubienski also looked at the standardised testing results of Charter Schools and found that often they were lower than those of the public schooling system. As charter schools sit outside the main public system opportunities for teacher voice and input, painted by proponents of reform as provider capture, have been dramatically reduced. Perhaps most worryingly Lubienski found that the rise of Charter Schools may be leading to increasing inequality and stratification of society.

In the lead up to New Zealand's general election later this year we are likely to hear calls for educational reform in this country along the lines of Charter Schools. In fact, ACT's Roger Douglas has already written an opinion piece recommending the Waiting for Superman movie. At the heart of these arguments is a best an implication, at worst an assertion, that the current schooling system does not innovate or seek greater effectiveness, an assertion that our current system is broken. In fact, there is much that is successful in New Zealand's education system, although teachers know that there are areas where our schooling can improve. Many of these improvements would involve the extension of exisiting, often under-resourced, programmes of innovation and effective practice. It would be a tragedy if reform justified by a false diagnosis of educational crisis was to undermine the very opportunites that exist to lift our schooling from good to great.

*Lubienski, C., & Weitzel, P. (Eds.).  (2010).  The Charter School Experiment: Expectations, Evidence, and Implications. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.