This Week In Education: Charter School Weak 2008: Still Separatist After All These Years

Perhaps the best news for charter school advocates this week isn't all the coverage they're getting, most of it positive, or the big conference they've been holding in DC. It's Barack Obama's continued march towards the Democratic nomination. He is staunchly pro-charter, despite pushback from teachers and voters who aren't so sure.

But all is not well in charter-land. Research on charters' benefits continues to be weak or mixed (see a RAND report on Chicago charters here). Charter advocates have been frustratingly slow to get involved in turnaround efforts, which are a big focus for district leaders and an increasingly big part of NCLB, and equally slow to focus on charter accountability (ie, closing the bad ones). And, while complaining loudly about the need for a level financial playing field with district schools, charters in many places continue to ignore pre- and post-lottery admissions procedures that seem to give them advantages when it comes to students' academic, economic, and social backgrounds.

Most important, all but a small section of the charter community seems locked into a narrow-minded "let's open some new schools!" mentality, ignoring the larger K12 education world where the vast majority of children are -- and will be -- educated for the foreseeable future. I'm not against charters, and districts that ignore and create hostile conditions for charters share a portion of the blaem, but it makes me sad -- and mad -- to see so much effort and money going into something that seems to remain so insular and separatist.