About a week after orientation started, I spoke to a parent who decided to withdraw her child and enroll her in another school. “Where are you enrolling her?” I asked. The response was a simple, “I don’t know yet.” I cringed when I thought of the other possibilities in the city, ranging from fairly mediocre to flat out unsafe. Our school, which she chose to leave, is the highest performing open-enrollment high school in the city. However, we serve just over 200 students in a city of nearly 500,000 people. This is simply not enough.
I wrestle with this idea each day as I drive to work as I pass kids waiting for their bus to other charter schools in the city. What will their day be like? I know the scholars at my school are getting quality education every moment possible. We know that there is still not a minute to waste when the goal is to get a ninth grader who reads at a third grade level ready for college in a mere four years. Every second is carefully planned to maximize student learning. I am aware that this is not the norm… but shouldn’t it be?
When kids leave our school, they walk away from opportunity. I watch them leave knowing that they will learn less somewhere else. Advocates for school choice say that we should leave education reform up to the market. In the end, they say, parents and students will choose only the best schools, and the others will fall to the wayside. According to this theory, high performing schools will have wait-lists because parents and students will flock to the schools that help students learn the most… What will these theorists say when they discover that we do not have a waiting list for 9th grade enrollment?
Choice is not enough when parents don’t make the right choice. Choice is not enough when unsafe schools still exist. Choice is not enough if the choice is to move a child to an “easier” school where they will learn less. Though I am so happy and grateful to provide a place that is focused on learning and safety for our scholars, I am constantly reminded that the job is not finished. Every kid deserves an education. Not just those who choose it.
Everything you say is true, but what alternatives exist when the parent/guardian of a kid doesn't make a good choice? I would assert that bad choices at home largely will offset even the best actions a teacher can take during the school day/year.
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