Ravitch Article

     I was truly intrigued by Diane Ravitch's article, The Myth of Charter Schools. When I first began reading the article I was discouraged thinking it was another article criticizing public schools. It was empowering to read an article which was encouraging for public school employees. I enjoyed learning the contrast and misconceptions between public and charter schools.
     First, I just want to say that I am appalled by some of the behavior of charter schools. I cannot believe it was overlooked in the production of the movie that Geoffrey Canada kicked out the first class of middle school students that didn't get good enough test scores. Those poor middle schoolers! I guarantee they are disempowered far more than the average public school students. I find it preposterous that the charter schools are bragging about being prestigious when they only accept the top performing students, have ample education resources, and dismiss students from the schools just prior to state testing whom they think will hurt their school's reputation. If public schools were only assessed on their top performing students, obviously they would have better test results. I agree with Ravitch when she says, "If all inner-city schools had the same resources as his (Geoffrey Canada), they met get the same results." I am quite confident they would have much better results!
      Teachers are an important factor within schools, however there are various outside factors which directly relate to student success in school. Ravitch wrote, "Teachers statistically account for around 10-20 percent of achievement outcomes. According to University of Washington economist Dan Goldhaber, students' backgrounds, families, and factors outside of the control of the teacher accounts for 60 percent of student achievement." Where teachers only have 10-20 percent of the achievement outcome, it is essential that we focus on improving these outside factors in students' lives to improve achievement. I do believe teachers can always improve also, but they should not be solely to blame for the problems in the public school system!