Traditional or charter schools? Actually, they help each other, study says.
Charter schools are not a silver bullet for education reform, a new report says, but applying the best practices from some charter schools to low-performing public schools may increase student achievement.
Early data show that the strategy 鈥� applied in Houston and Denver pilot programs 鈥� yielded 鈥減romising鈥� results, according to , titled "Learning from the Successes and Failures of Charter Schools" and released Thursday by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution.
The study could help improve cooperation between charter schools and traditional schools, which have often viewed each other as competitors. The debate about whether charter schools or traditional schools are more effective is a false one and misses the central point, said secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the Hamilton Project鈥檚 education forum Thursday in Washington.
鈥淭he question isn鈥檛: Do we need more charter schools, traditional schools, gifted schools, or magnet schools?鈥� he said. 鈥淲e need better public schools. Kids don鈥檛 know what kind of school they go to. All they ask is, 鈥楧o I have a good teacher?鈥� 鈥�
The report focuses on the work that Harvard economics professor Roland Fryer did with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) to develop a pilot program targeting nine of Houston鈥檚 lowest-performing middle and high schools in 2010-11 and 11 elementary schools in 2011-12.
Dr. Fryer, who is the faculty director of Harvard鈥檚 Education Innovations Laboratories (EdLabs), studied 35 charter schools in New York and discovered the top five practices that separate low- and high-achieving charter schools: (1) extended time at school, (2) strong administrators and teachers, (3) data-driven instruction, (4) small-group tutoring, and (5) creating a 鈥渃ulture of high expectations.鈥�
Fryer and HISD superintendent Terry Grier used grants from the US Department of Education and private funding 鈥� together totaling $2,200 per student 鈥� to implement the five practices. To meet those goals, the schools:
- Extended the academic year by five days and added one hour to each day.
- Replaced 53 percent of the teachers and all of the school principals.
- Assessed the students every six weeks, reviewed the effectiveness of teaching methods from the data they had gathered, and set new goals.
- Gave sixth- and ninth-graders two-on-one math instruction by full-time tutors.
- Established a culture of high expectations by posting goals in the classrooms.
Dr. Grier said that fixing low-performing schools is not rocket science. 鈥淚鈥檝e never been to a high-performing school that didn鈥檛 have a good principal and good teachers,鈥� Grier said at the Hamilton forum.
The report says the test scores, especially for math, increased dramatically (though it did not include the test scores). Fryer calculated that the progress in Houston was equivalent to giving the students an additional 3-1/2 months of math instruction and three weeks of reading instruction. The report shows similar progress for the pilot program in Denver, which began in 2011.
Fryer says he is optimistic that other school districts can adopt these methods and achieve similar results. But there are still barriers that Fryer sees to broader acceptance of his methods.
鈥淭he biggest challenge we have right now is: Do we have the right talent?鈥� Fryer says. 鈥淒o we have a big enough pool of leaders and teachers who want to do this work? It鈥檚 incredibly difficult.鈥�
Part of that work is building cooperation between charter schools and traditional schools. Fryer鈥檚 research is helping to transform the debate about charter schools, says Steve Mancini, public affairs director for the charter school network Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP).
鈥淗e is bridging the gap between the academic ivory tower and front lines,鈥� says Mr. Mancini. 鈥淗e takes research and makes it relevant for the neediest kids.鈥�
KIPP鈥檚 schools already employ Fryer鈥檚 suggested practices and are working with school districts to develop programs and leadership training to introduce successful charter school elements into traditional schools this year. Mancini says this indicates a shifting in policy that is less rigid and more collaborative.
This 鈥渃ross-pollination鈥� is breaking down the barriers and confrontation that often exist between proponents of strict charter-school methods and proponents of traditional-school methods, says Mitchell Chester, Massachusetts education commissioner.
鈥淲e want to make that impermeable wall permeable,鈥� Commissioner Chester says. 鈥淲hat lessons we can learn and share so that we can start to think about models that don鈥檛 fit neatly into one camp or another.鈥�
