Nevada's charter school situation is embarrassingly poor. We have about 420,000 students in the public school system and yet fewer than 30 charter schools.
What, exactly, is a charter school? Basically it's a normal public school where tuition is free for all students and virtually whoever applies must be accepted. (Usually, if there are too many applications, a lottery is used.) Unlike traditional public schools, however, charter schools are free from much of the usual bureaucratic red tape. The idea is that they are free to be creative and innovative in the ways they teach students.
Put simply, there are about a million different ways to teach students, and charter schools offer many alternatives to the one-size-fits-all dogmas of the usual government school.
Unfortunately, charter schools in Nevada are hamstrung by the fact that school districts—and unions—don't really want them to exist. Even the Departments of Education at the state's two public universities—the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the University of Nevada, Reno—don't dare sponsor charters, even though that would give them a chance to put their ideas to a real-world empirical test.
Furthermore, charter schools in Nevada are still regulated by the state's one-size-fits-all central bureaucracy and must also accept the contracts negotiated between the school district and the school-district unions.
Recently the teacher union in Massachusetts, unlike the one in Nevada, decided to put its money where its mouth is. It lobbied to create "pilot schools"—charter schools under union control. Researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that union-controlled pilot schools in Massachusetts (which have special rules that allow them to deny students admission, unlike charter schools) typically perform no better than the traditionally run public schools. But Massachusetts' normal charter schools—which are free to choose how they hire, reward or fire teachers—outperform both the traditional public schools and the union-controlled pilot schools.
Charter schools should be part of the education reform equation in Nevada. Quite simply, they work. To improve Nevada's charter school program, we not only need a regulatory board supervising charter schools that operates independent of the school districts and the Department of Education, but we also need to allow charter school administrators to hire, fire and reward as they see fit.
Evidence continues to mount that charter schools outperform. But if the union disagrees, let's experiment by duplicating both the charter and pilot-schools programs of Massachusetts.
Somehow, we don't expect the unions will want to undergo a real-world test.
January 27, 2009
January 14, 2009
Teaching content is teaching reading
According to the Nation's Report Card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 43 percent of Nevada's fourth-grade students can't read at grade level . And that is after we've spent over $40,000 educating each of them. Obviously, improving reading is important: Students who fail to learn how to read are more likely to end up as high school dropouts—with an increased likelihood of a lower living standard and all the problems associated with poverty.
Nationally, the average first-grade student devotes as much as 62 percent of his or her time to language arts. By the third grade, students are spending as much as 47 percent of their time in language arts. Nevada students are likely no exception.
So, is there a better way?
Professor Daniel Willingham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, thinks so. To improve reading, we need to improve reading comprehension, but to do so, we need to improve the student's general knowledge—meaning more civics, more geography, more science, history, arts, and music ... and less emphasis on reading strategies. An interesting idea.
Professor Willingham has a compelling 10-minute video presentation, "Teaching Content is Teaching Reading," on YouTube. We think you'll find it interesting.
January 13, 2009
Step Up For Students
One of Florida's best and most effective parental choice programs has been Step Up for Students, a corporate tuition scholarship program for low-income children.
The corporate tuition scholarship allows corporations in Florida to make tax-deductible contributions to organizations that provide scholarships to low-income children to attend private schools or out-of-district public schools. Corporations get a dollar-for-dollar tax credit (up to 75 percent of their tax liability to the state, up to $5 million) when they donate to a scholarship tuition organization. The total sum of tax credits that can be offered was capped at $88 million last year but will now rise to $118 million.
Low-income students -- meaning students who qualify for free and reduced lunches -- qualified for $3,500 scholarships to attend private schools or $500 scholarships to attend out-of-district public schools.
This year the scholarship has allowed 23,000 low-income children to receive a better education. Minority students have been the biggest beneficiaries of this parental-choice program: about 40 percent of the students are African Americans, 25 percent Hispanic, 25 percent white and about 10 percent Asian or other. On top of helping low-income students receive educational opportunities they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford, the tax credit saved the state an estimated $1.49 for every $1 lost from the tax credit. This means the state may have saved as much as $42 million through the program this year.
Florida isn't the only state with a tax credit program. Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island are allowing corporations and/or individuals to donate millions of dollars each year to help low-income children and/or children with disabilities and foster care children attend schools of their choice.
Nevada could create a similar program using the Modified Business Tax (MBT), gaming, room or other taxes as a source of funds. Were the state to use just 50 percent of the MBT (about $125 million) to fund a tuition tax-credit scholarship program, we could send over 17,000 low-income students to private schools on $7,000-scholarships -- or over 41,000 on $3,500-scholarships similar to Florida's.
Parental choice is a diverse movement, with support from all races and all parties, that is growing nationwide. It is time for Nevada to join the reform movement and upgrade to the 21st Century by providing better educational opportunities for our children.
The corporate tuition scholarship allows corporations in Florida to make tax-deductible contributions to organizations that provide scholarships to low-income children to attend private schools or out-of-district public schools. Corporations get a dollar-for-dollar tax credit (up to 75 percent of their tax liability to the state, up to $5 million) when they donate to a scholarship tuition organization. The total sum of tax credits that can be offered was capped at $88 million last year but will now rise to $118 million.
Low-income students -- meaning students who qualify for free and reduced lunches -- qualified for $3,500 scholarships to attend private schools or $500 scholarships to attend out-of-district public schools.
This year the scholarship has allowed 23,000 low-income children to receive a better education. Minority students have been the biggest beneficiaries of this parental-choice program: about 40 percent of the students are African Americans, 25 percent Hispanic, 25 percent white and about 10 percent Asian or other. On top of helping low-income students receive educational opportunities they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford, the tax credit saved the state an estimated $1.49 for every $1 lost from the tax credit. This means the state may have saved as much as $42 million through the program this year.
Florida isn't the only state with a tax credit program. Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island are allowing corporations and/or individuals to donate millions of dollars each year to help low-income children and/or children with disabilities and foster care children attend schools of their choice.
Nevada could create a similar program using the Modified Business Tax (MBT), gaming, room or other taxes as a source of funds. Were the state to use just 50 percent of the MBT (about $125 million) to fund a tuition tax-credit scholarship program, we could send over 17,000 low-income students to private schools on $7,000-scholarships -- or over 41,000 on $3,500-scholarships similar to Florida's.
Parental choice is a diverse movement, with support from all races and all parties, that is growing nationwide. It is time for Nevada to join the reform movement and upgrade to the 21st Century by providing better educational opportunities for our children.
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