Charter School Successes
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 By Beth Lear
Most media reports detail the negatives of charter schools, such as the news this week about closing 2 “poorly performing” schools in the state. Here’s the good news:
The Ohio Coalition for Quality Education hosted an awards ceremony at the Statehouse today. Most people in Ohio won’t hear about it. Senate President Harris even remarked that every reporter on the Statehouse beat should have been there. It was a celebration of the benefits of education choice — the results of increased liberty in learning in Ohio.
What’s to celebrate? The diverse mission of Ohio’s successful community schools, which includes schools specializing in serving students with disabilities, schools for gifted students, schools that focus on arts-based learning, science and math schools, options for drop-outs and schools for children who learn differently and yet desire to succeed academically.
The stories of successes are varied but have a common theme: when parents get choices, students excel. One example is a young man from Cleveland who wasn’t thriving in the traditional environment, but found a home at Constellation Schools and graduated with a full scholarship to MIT. Another story told of the growth of the movement from a handful of students for the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) when it started a few years ago to a graduating class of 1,000 this spring and over 9,000 students enrolled. Another encouraging story involved a well-respected public school who lost a handful of students to a local community school and, instead of complaining, asked for a meeting where they shared ideas.
Awards presenters included a State School Board member, the Speaker, President of the Senate and several key legislative leaders who support school choice. These elected men and women have taken the American values of freedom and opportunity seriously for the past decade, and Ohio parents and children are reaping the benefits. Congratulations to you all!
