Western Michigan University’s recent study on KIPP, a widely known public charter school network, shouldn’t deter legislators from encouraging charter school growth and replication. The study questioned KIPP’s effectiveness because KIPP raises substantial private funds to supplement government funding and does not enroll new students to fill openings when students leave a KIPP school. These should be viewed as points of differentiation, not weaknesses.
We know that measuring same-student learning gains is the best way to gauge academic performance of schools and the academic growth of individual students. Imagine Schools and KIPP serve students in some of the most disadvantaged communities, and students often enter our schools below grade level. Yet, nearly two-thirds of KIPP and Imagine students experience learning gains of a year or more, as compared to 50% of students nationwide (2007 Pearson Stanford 10 national norming sample.) Students who were gaining less than a grade a year in their previous schools are catching up by far exceeding their prior academic performance.
As the nation’s leaders rework No Child Left Behind (and hopefully abandon its characterization of schools as failing based on proficiency test results at one point in time), leading charter organizations, such as Imagine and KIPP, are demonstrating that same-student learning gain measurements are more effective tools in defining “high quality.”
Let’s also recognize that schools of choice have two primary quality measurements: (1) same-student learning gains and (2) a waiting list. When a school has more students whose parents want to enroll them than the school can accommodate, it’s a parental stamp of approval. Parents take into consideration all the aspects of a good school—safety, a loving environment, character development, academic achievement, location, leadership, and more. Parents know quality.
While KIPP may not enroll new students to replace those who leave, there is no doubt that they could. As portrayed in Waiting for Superman, there were far more students participating in KIPP’s lottery than seats available. It was heart-breaking when Daisy’s number wasn’t called. Thousands of students are still waiting to be called. At the Imagine Weston campus, 900 students are on a waiting list. There is more demand for charter school seats than any single organization can fulfill.
The amount most governments provide to charter schools averages about 70% to 75% of the monies government-operated schools receive from taxpayers (May 2010 Ball State study). We would all like to have more money to spend on students and teachers, but even Bill Gates recently acknowledged that spending more per student isn’t a reliable predictor of better academic results. Imagine Schools’ national learning gains are comparable to KIPP’s. Imagine achieved these results without receiving any significant supplemental grants or private foundation contributions.
Relying on grants and donations may not be a replicable approach for most organizations. However, states could provide equal financing for public schools that are charter schools. Until that happens, charters like Imagine and KIPP are a great deal for taxpayers. Charter schools are attracting private dollars in many cases because they get results.
The renewed national focus on charter schools will bring more arrows of criticism, even for a large non profit organization like KIPP. The stakes are high, especially for those who oppose reform and competition in education. Charter schools are one piece of the larger education reform movement and won’t solve every problem in education. But as I see on a daily basis, charter schools are making a difference in the lives of nearly 40,000 children in the Imagine ‘school system.’ And more parents want that choice for their children.
Op-Ed by Dennis Bakke, CEO and co-founder of Imagine Schools, a national family of 73 public charter schools.
Published April 14, 2011 by The Washington Examiner.