Why Charter Schools Aren’t a Magic Trick for Poor Kids

Shrewd philanthropists and investors have helped to portray "school choice" in the form of publicly-funded charter schools as the kind of education reform that will finally satisfy the goal, starting with the authorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965, of increasing the academic performance of low-achieving students. However, there are at least three good reasons that private- or publicly-funded charters will not be the educational salvation of these students.

First, charters are being targeted chiefly to low-achieving children, segregating them in a school (not a classroom) with their academic peers. Second, their teachers will not be any stronger than the teachers in the regular public schools they left, and all will, it seems, become progressively weaker.