Toulmin Dialogue

Kendall O’Neill

Megan Keaton

Eng 112

16 April 2013

Cast list:

·         David Morris, writer for On the Commons magazine

·         Hendrick Smith, head writer and statistic collector for CREDO

·         Marques, a 4^th grade student at a KIPP program

·         Charles Clark, writer for CQ Research

·         James Harvey, wrote an article that was published in the Educational Leadership volume 69 issue 4

·         Kendall, a 1^st year college student that has been studying the effects on charter schools on the public education system

Setting:  We are all fishing from a dock at the pond at the local state park. None of us are really paying attention to one another but we are aware of each other’s presence. While we silently fish Marques realizes that he has run out of bait. He turns to Hendrick Smith and asks if he could spare some. Willingly Smith hands Marques a handful of live worms to use. Smith notices Marques’ school uniform with the KIPP logo on the sleeve. Smith glances down and back up again to get a good look at him and asks him how he enjoys attending his KIPP school.

Narrator: The vast majority of charter schools are failing to do what they agreed to when they were given their charters. The failing charters should be closed because the students are not doing better than their traditional public school counterpart, they are not closing when they have proven to perform worse, and they take resources that the public education system needs. It is imperative that they close because it is draining the full potential that the public education system can not reach when its assets are misplaces in this misguided public school reform. People assume that because there are a handful of charter programs that are succeeding that the rest will either catch up or are already performing at a higher level.

Smith: Hey there. My name is Hendrick Smith, I noticed you attend a KIPP school. How do you like it there?

Marques caught off guard by the question clears his throat:  Well it is a lot of work but I don’t mind because my mom says it’s the best school in the city and I should feel lucky to have to opportunity to attend it.

Smith: Oh is that right? Well son, you are lucky to be able to attend a KIPP program but not all charter schools like yours perform nearly as well. It is actually a highly debated topic on whether or not charter schools are the reform that our public education system needs. I am sure you didn’t know but I made it my job to go across the United States and study all of these charter schools to see if they are in fact better than traditional public schools.

Marques: Oh really? Well, what did you find?

Narrator: By this time, everyone is listening to the conversation but they continue to fish silently and listen.

Smith: Well Marques I am not sure if you are going to like this but most charter schools actually have students performing considerable worse than those in their local neighborhood schools. Only 17% of charter schools are efficient like yours.

Kendall a little nervous to jump in to the conversation, hesitantly says: Well Smith, that is just the tip of the iceberg the issue is deeper than just poor performing charters. They are given these charter with the expectation of producing higher test scores and when this experimental way of teaching fails they are to shut the school down so staff, students, and funding can return to the existing public schools.

Smith: That is true Kendall. “The replication of successful school models is one important element of this effort. On the other side of the equation, however, authorizers must be willing and able to fulfill their end of the original charter school bargain: accountability in exchange for flexibility. When schools consistently fail, they should be closed”

Morris, unable to sit on the sideline and just listen to the conversation jumps in: “ One study for the U.S Department of Education concluded “Charters rarely face sanction (revocation or nonrenewal).” Over the first 20 years about 2.5 percent of charter schools have been closed for academic reasons.”

Harvey: While I have been listening to y’all discuss this, you are forgetting one big issue and that is the misguided funding. During the collapse of the economy budget cuts were experienced everywhere. A large part of that was with public education system. “While voting to cut $11 billion out of federal education funding for fiscal year 2011 (including cuts in Title I, the Striving Readers program, literacy, teacher quality, math and science, and education technology, as well as special and vocational and adult education), the U.S. House of Representatives found the money to maintain charter and choice funding (Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011).”

Kendall: So, our public education system continues to receive less and less, yet our charters continue to receive funding from the government even though they are performing worse?

Morris: “As the cycle feeds on itself. More charters mean less money for public schools; the more public education deteriorates, the greater the popularity and number of charter schools.”

Kendall: Harvey, you mentioned that with the budget cuts the public education system experienced poor teacher qualities. Can we not afford to train them properly? Also I read that because some charter schools have rigorous programs, teachers rarely stay for long periods of time. Some charter teachers receive teacher aids that are specialized in guiding these teachers lesson plans and will help with troubled students if the teacher is unqualified or needs assistance. Is it fair to say that if public school teachers had these aids are were in a ‘normal’ teaching environment students at traditional public schools could perform even better than charter school students?

Morris: It is hard to say Kendall. Public education doesn’t receive teacher aids like this so it is hard to compare the two fairly. Perhaps with the closing of charter schools and the transition of these programs into existing public schools we can see the funding move to public schools and have the opportunity to use teacher aids and prepare our teachers more thoroughly.  

Marques: Wait a minute! What are you saying!? With this charter school, I could be the first kid in my family to go to college! You can’t take that opportunity away from me! My school is one of the best in the area and people try year after year to get in.

Smith: That’s true Marques. “As of 2009, more than 4,700 charter schools enrolled 1.4 million children in 40 states and the District of Columbia. The ranks of charters grow by hundreds each year. Even so, more than 365,000 names linger on charter school wait lists after more than fifteen years, there is no doubt that both supply and demand in the charter sector are strong.”

Marques: Plus we get to do interesting things in class that some of my neighbors that don’t go to school with me, don’t get to do. We get to sing songs while doing math problems and paint what we imagine while reading a story. I don’t want to go back and sit in a boring math class and do problem after problem for hours. I love my KIPP school and all of my classmates are doing really well. We look forward to going to school every day.

Clark: Marques is right. I’ve done a great deal of research on charter schools and the ability to use creative methods of teachings in important for the public education system. We get to test which methods students respond to and which methods they don’t. While not all failing charter schools close right away, they need more time to tweak their methods and try it a little bit differently. ““In most transitions, the early years are shaky,” activist Kolderie says. People complained because “the early automobile was slower than the train, or because the first telephone had a range of two miles. We never before had a system of autonomous school.” Not to mention while I was doing my research I interviewed a superintendent and he told me how charter schools have actually forced him to improve his district. He tried to prove to the community that he wasn’t going to fall behind or lose more students to charter school. He did school renovations, cut class sizes so students could get more attention, and sought out parents help in choosing new principles.

Smith: Well Clark, while that is all good and well, what it boils down to is that charter schools just aren’t performing well enough. The facts are simple only 17% of charter perform significantly better while half perform about the same and 37% perform significantly worse.

Harvey: There is also no disputing that while traditional public schools continue to receive less and less funding, teaching conditions and options become worse.

Clark: But there are the programs that work and to end them all would be devastating to the progress that has been made.

Smith: there is no reason to keep the program if not even a quarter of them do what they were intended to.

Marques: If I have to go back to traditional public schools I will be devastated. I am so motivated to continue with the program and if you put me back into regular public schools I don’t know if I will still have that motivation.

Kendall: Unfortunately Marques, it doesn’t seem like there is another way. Charter schools aren’t producing the results they promised to and they are hurting the public education system. Charter schools have had 20 years to prove that this is the reform the education system needs and they have failed. However with the closing of charter schools and the redirection of attention and funding to public school they will be nicer and better than they were when you went to them. Now all that needs to be done is to sit down with the U.S Board of Education and discuss the process of closing down the charters. Notices will need to be sent immediately to the grossly failing population that they will be closed upon the next school year. As far as the successful charters, they will have a year or two to to stay open and discuss the integration of their programs into existing public schools. Notices will be sent to parents telling them that the school their child attends will be closing and how the funding that child bringing back to neighborhood schools will improve it and make it more successful than the charter they will be leaving. Once all the unsuccessful charters are closed and billions of dollars have been dumped back into the public education system, the U.S Department of Education can distribute it to integrate the successful programs in to the public schools, improve teacher quality and focus on arts and science.