In the 20 years since charter schools first came into existence, a storyline that pits charters against traditional district-managed schools has emerged. But that divisive narrative (a prime example of which is now being played out in New York) isn’t the only one available, nor, from the perspective of anyone fighting to for an educational system free of achievement gaps, is it particularly productive.
The story we need to tell, and the scalable change we need to drive, depends on a much more comprehensive approach, a portfolio school district approach, that fosters both high-performing district schools and high-performing charters alongside one another. What we need is a scalable, student-centered, quality-based solution that doesn’t leave anyone behind.
Certainly there are challenges to this approach, and many people who are well-versed in education reform have essentially given up on district schools, arguing that it’s impossible to transform low-performing public schools that "suffer" from the constraints of school district governance, etc. We should, they say, focus our attentions on scaling high-quality charter schools and leave district schools out of the equation.
I empathize with the frustration inherent in this line of thinking. Driving systemic improvement in traditional public schools is incredibly complex. But while I am an advocate of charters, I do not believe that we can walk away or adopt the comforts of a simple ‘this way’ or ‘that way’ narrative.
A pragmatic approach to portfolio management
So how do we change the tenor of the conversation about traditional public schools versus charter schools? How do we remove the concept of “versus” from the conversation? I think portfolio management is the answer. And while theories about portfolio school district management have been fairly crisp, proposed implementation methodologies have been few and far between.
A new paper by Robin Lake of the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) and Alex Hernandez of the Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) provides a starting point for anyone thinking about implementing a portfolio approach. Although by no means comprehensive, the paper recommends 10 practical steps for district leaders seeking to partner with high quality charter schools in a portfolio approach to improvement.
The gist of the recommendations is simple. Transition to a portfolio approach cannot happen without:
- Sound data that supports a clear, consistent and broad communication campaign about discrepancies in school performance and about the need for innovative solutions
- A coordinated approach to getting buy-in and ongoing support from community members both inside and outside the educational system
- Realistic achievement goals that are set based on the magnitude of the problem – plus the patience to achieve them
- Careful selection of a quality charter organization or network, and district commitment to support the charter with the required resources such as facilities and adequate funding
- Clear, up-front agreements from charters about performance and admissions requirements, and meaningful district oversight
- Measurement of results based on data, and ongoing attention to the academic results of all schools in the portfolio
Take a moment to step back and think about these recommendations. As a student, parent, teacher, administrator, board member, policy maker, funder, lender, etc., what can you do to support your teacher, school or school district in its effort to become a part of this scalable, student-centered, quality-based solution to education reform?
There are endless examples of how we can each support the critical steps necessary to implement a portfolio school district approach that will benefit an entire public school community. Which one will you pursue?
