Thursday, May 8th, 2014
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
EDUCATIONAL REFORM LIKE PULLING TEETH!
Achievement in U.S. elementary schools lags behind many industrialized countries. The U.S. comes in16th in science and 23rd in math. Our major economic competitors — China, Japan, Canada, Germany and Korea — are far ahead. So why is it so hard for us to implement new approaches that will improve our kids’ performance?
In spite of a number of innovative proposals for reform put forth by concerned legislators, my home state of Louisiana ranks at or near the bottom in every national survey of educational achievement. House education committee chairman Steve Carter, from Baton Rouge, has been in the forefront of some of these proposals. In addition to other initiatives, he’s a major proponent of charter schools.
Charter schools are independent public schools that are not constrained by the statewide one-size-fits-all requirements often placed on local schools. Charter schools are able to be more innovative in developing curricula, hiring teachers, and structuring the school day.
A key benefit of charter schools is that parents have a choice. They pick the school and are not forced into making their kids attend a specific local school. In just about everything else you do, there’s a choice. But not in where your kid goes to school. Choice fosters competition. For many, the lack of competition is a key component in the weakness of the American educational system. To be successful, schools have to compete. That’s the key to charter schools. To be successful, they have to compete. And the students are the beneficiaries. Continue Reading…………….