History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Are charter schools a choice for segregation?
- 12-02-2010
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By Melinda Burns/ Miller-McCune
When the charter school movement began 20 years ago, it was pitched to the public as a more flexible and autonomous alternative to traditional public schools. People believed, too, that charters would be less segregated because they could enroll students across district boundaries. Today, charter schools are getting a big boost in federal funding from the administration of President Barack Obama. This year alone, the number of charters has grown by 9 percent, to more than 5,450 schools. The popularity of the movement and the desperation of parents who enter their children in lotteries for inner-city charters has been captured in Waiting for Superman, a new documentary film we reviewed last month. (“Mixed Report Card for ‘Waiting for Superman’”) But are charters more integrated than other public schools? To find out, Miller-McCune spoke with Erica Frankenberg, a senior researcher with the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the co-author of a national report on charter schools; and Gary Miron, a professor of education at West Michigan University who recently led a national study on the makeup of the charter schools run by nonprofit and for-profit education management firms. (more…)
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