Here We Go Again: Misleading Charter Praise

The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) offers yet another in a series of misleading claims in order to promote charter schools: "It’s still difficult for some educators to say “charter schools” without sneering. But in Charleston County, charter schools are delivering on promises," adding:

Monday, the once wary Charleston County School Board renewed the Charleston Charter School for Math and Science’s contract for 10 years and approved its expansion by 80 students to 560. The school has achieved an impressive track record of academic achievement and is the most racially diverse public school in the district.

Praise in isolation is a dangerous thing; therefore, what is behind charter schools "delivering on promises" in Charleston? Consider how these charters compare to other schools, mostly pubic, who have the same student demographics:

Charter School	Absolute Rating 2012	SLO* Excellent	SLO Good	SLO Average	SLO Below Average	SLO At-Risk
Charleston Charter School for Math and Science	Excellent	26	6	1	0	0
Orange Grove Elementary Charter School	Excellent	40	13	1	1	0
East Cooper Montessori Charter School	Excellent	5	0	0	0	0
James Island Charter High	Excellent	15	5	0	0	0
Charleston Development Academy Public Charter School	Average	0	1	30	25	21

*Absolute ratings of schools with students like ours (SLO)

The raw "excellent" ratings of most of these charter schools certainly justifies praise, but to suggest that charter schools—because they are charter schools—are somehow producing elite and exceptional results when compared to public schools serving essentially the same populations as those charter schools is misleading—revealing that such claims have some ulterior motives beyond praising academic success of schools.

The charter schools are not exceptional; they are typical, and they do not in any way justify further expansion of charter schools, especially while public schools are routinely demonized and marginalized in the media and through misguided policy decisions.