corrente

Today's New York Times

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 - The first national comparison of test scores among children in charter schools and regular public schools shows charter school students often doing worse than comparable students in regular public schools.

The findings, buried in mountains of data the Education Department released without public announcement, dealt a blow to supporters of the charter school movement, including the Bush administration.

The data shows fourth graders attending charter schools performing about half a year behind students in other public schools in both reading and math. Put another way, only 25 percent of the fourth graders attending charters were proficient in reading and math, against 30 percent who were proficient in reading, and 32 percent in math, at traditional public schools.

[...] In virtually all instances, the charter students did worse than their counterparts in regular public schools. [full article NY Times | Aug 17]

For example, if a school -- a child is trapped in a school for several years that is -- that's not meeting standards, the federal government will pay for after-school tutoring, and the parent can choose all kind of tutoring options, whether they be public or private. One parent -- a parent can send the school -- a child to a different public school. In other words, when -- there has to be accountability in order for a -- I mean, there has to be a consequence in order for an accountability system to work. - George W. Bush, Arkansas, May 11, 2004.

??? - Don't ask me... I'm a product of public education.

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