Buffalo's charter schools post some of the city's highest test scores

[steven]

Buffalo charter schools, once considered an experiment, posted some of the highest state test scores in the city this year.

At a couple of charter schools, results in math and English were among the best of any schools in Erie and Niagara counties.

While the latest state test scores show gains in student achievement at Buffalo Public Schools, city charters are showing considerable progress.
And as a whole, charters continue to significantly outperform the city’s traditional public schools.

“We’re really happy we’ve gone beyond the point of having to prove ourselves,” said Corrinne Cristofaro, executive director of the Western New York Charter Schools Coalition, “and we are just happy we can move along with educating kids.”

In 2006, 47.7 percent of Buffalo charter school students in grades three to eight scored at or above the proficiency level in math.

This year, it was 74.4 percent. In 2006, only 38.9 percent of charter students scored at or above the proficiency level in English.

This year it was 57.5 percent. “I think, overall, they’ve done extremely well,” said Robert M. Bennett, chancellor of the state Board of Regents.
That’s not to say there aren’t examples where charters didn’t perform as well as expected this year, Bennett said.

And on average, math and English proficiency at city charters is lower than it is for all schools statewide — 81 percent in math and 69 percent in English.

Bennett, who has been a big advocate of charter schools, pointed to several city charters performing well and expressed his desire to see more of the schools across the state.

“They’re no longer an experiment,” Bennett said. “They’ve proven themselves.”

Publicly funded charter schools first opened in Buffalo Niagara in 2000, and as the growing movement enters its ninth year, charters will educate some 7,000 children during the upcoming school year, Cristofaro said.
The region will have 16 charter schools once the new Aloma
D. Johnson Fruit Belt Community Charter School opens in August in the Bennett W. Smith Family Life Center at 833 Michigan Ave.

Enrollment at local charters may be as few as 100 or as many as 1,500. The Buffalo school system transfers tens of millions of dollars a year to charters.

After nearly a decade, it is that state funding formula for charters that still remains a bone of contention for a city school system struggling to raise student achievement.

While the Buffalo School District has seen marked improvement the past three years, the percentage of pupils scoring at or above the proficiency level in math — 50 percent — and English — 42.5 percent — is lower, on average, than the charters.

“I just don’t think it’s a good comparison,” said Philip Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation. “You have to look at other factors.”
Traditional city schools have more severe special-education students than the charters, more pupils who speak English as a second language and more serious discipline problems, Rumore said.

If charter students are doing well, that’s good — they should be, Rumore said.

Charters face a higher accountability and are expected to succeed.
“In the case of the charter schools, if performance doesn’t increase and they don’t start meeting standards, they get closed,” Bennett said.

In 2006, the State University of New York closed Stepping Stone Charter School, which had been plagued by instability and low test scores.
Sankofa Charter School was closed at the end of this school year.

“You really have to be at the top of your game — all the time,” said Joy Pepper, director of Tapestry Charter School on North Street.

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/385910.html

[GG716]

Teachers who are held accountable along with better students = better grades.
Gee what a shock.

[Linda_D]

Students with parents who give a damn = better grades.

[Bannister]

I applied to get my kids into Tapestry, they didn't get picked in the lottery, but I did notice something when I checked the school out.

There is no bus service. All the students that go there car pool or get dropped off by parents. That fact by itself sorts out some students that you would find in a normal Buffalo school.

The students that go to Tapestry typically have parents with cars, or parents whose job situations allow them to pick up or drop off their child.

I know Elwood Village Charter School is the same way, no bus service.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Students with parents who give a damn = better grades.

I think it is a combination of both.

Maybe they should allow a charter school for troubled kids and not the top of the pack.

No matter where you move, there are going to be bad parents. No matter where you move, there are going to be bad teachers. Since you can not do anything about stupid people having kids or very little to remove bad teachers, move the kids around.

IMO, the Buffalo Schools need to focus on the middle of the pack. Put the top performing kids in separate schools.

Put the kids who simply will not get with the system and are trouble, for whatever reason, in another separate school.

Allow for the middle of the pack to go to schools that allow kids to get some level of education.

[Linda_D]

I applied to get my kids into Tapestry, they didn't get picked in the lottery, but I did notice something when I checked the school out.

There is no bus service. All the students that go there car pool or get dropped off by parents. That fact by itself sorts out some students that you would find in a normal Buffalo school.

The students that go to Tapestry typically have parents with cars, or parents whose job situations allow them to pick up or drop off their child.

I know Elwood Village Charter School is the same way, no bus service.

Having to provide transportation is a self-selecting process, but the biggest one is having to apply to get their kids into a charter school. Having access to a car or transportation may limit some students from poorer families attending some of the more popular charters, but the real biggie is that the application process leaves out the parents who just don't care about their kids' education -- or maybe even their kids. That's why suburban schools do so much better than city schools -- so many more of their students have parents who care about how their kids do in school.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Having to provide transportation is a self-selecting process, but the biggest one is having to apply to get their kids into a charter school. Having access to a car or transportation may limit some students from poorer families attending some of the more popular charters, but the real biggie is that the application process leaves out the parents who just don't care about their kids' education -- or maybe even their kids. That's why suburban schools do so much better than city schools -- so many more of their students have parents who care about how their kids do in school.

Linda, I know it has been about 100 years since you were in school......and because of this I will excuse your opinion. j/k


The biggest thing I see is the culture of these schools. A good culture can overcome bad parents IMO. A good culture allows for kids to be comfortable in doing well. A good culture defines the norm in a positive light.

The way I see it, kids are VERY impressionable while they are in school. They want to fit in more than anything else. I feel it is up to the schools to mold what is viewed as "COOL" and rely on the kids to live inside of that mold.

I think that removing thugs should be goal #1. I am willing to be viewed as an A-hole in saying I am ok with letting 100 kids rot if it prevents 3000k kids from having a meaningful education.

[Bannister]

I think that removing thugs should be goal #1. I am willing to be viewed as an A-hole in saying I am ok with letting 100 kids rot if it prevents 3000k kids from having a meaningful education.

There are legal aspects that you haven't addressed.

We are legally responsible to educate those 100 kids.

Separating them might not be the answer either. The alternative school we already have in Buffalo is currently coming under fire for operating under conditions that border on abuse.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

There are legal aspects that you haven't addressed.

We are legally responsible to educate those 100 kids.

Separating them might not be the answer either. The alternative school we already have in Buffalo is currently coming under fire for operating under conditions that border on abuse.

I did not say kick the kids to the curb. I simply said isolate them.

Put them in a school where the campus offers education AND housing. Keep them off the streets and out of the main schools. If their parents do not want to be a parent, place them in schools where guidance can be provided.

New York state spends more per student to send them to horrible public schools than an undergrad at Buff State with ROOM AND BOARD.

Put the kids who are counter productive in normal schools on a campus with dorms. Take one of the closed public schools or catholic schools and build a large campus around the school house. Build a couple of dorms with a cafeteria. Allow for screening to get onto the campus and 24 hour security.


Provide the kids with 3 good meals a day, a safe and structured living environment. Give this charter school 100% of the funding per student they accept. If they were to start with 100 kids, that is a 1.4M operating budget.

It is not like thugs are dumb. It takes one hell of an entrepreneur to be a successful drug dealer.

[Linda_D]

I did not say kick the kids to the curb. I simply said isolate them.

Put them in a school where the campus offers education AND housing. Keep them off the streets and out of the main schools. If their parents do not want to be a parent, place them in schools where guidance can be provided.

New York state spends more per student to send them to horrible public schools than an undergrad at Buff State with ROOM AND BOARD.

Put the kids who are counter productive in normal schools on a campus with dorms. Take one of the closed public schools or catholic schools and build a large campus around the school house. Build a couple of dorms with a cafeteria. Allow for screening to get onto the campus and 24 hour security.


Provide the kids with 3 good meals a day, a safe and structured living environment. Give this charter school 100% of the funding per student they accept. If they were to start with 100 kids, that is a 1.4M operating budget.

It is not like thugs are dumb. It takes one hell of an entrepreneur to be a successful drug dealer.

Your "solution" smacks of something like the Nazis or the Communist Chinese did in the past -- state "ownership" of children -- which will never pass muster in a democratic society. This is what makes education in a democratic system so difficult.

Who, exactly, gets to judge which kids are "thugs", btw? Keyboard150, genoobie, and bannister are all teachers in the BPS schools I believe, but I suspect that from the same 1000 kids, each of their list of "100 potential thugs" would be very different. Moreover, modern educational research pretty much indicates that early childhood -- and therefore early childhood education -- is most important for success later in school. For your plan to work, 4 and 5 year-olds would have to be sent to live in dorms.

BTW, more than a century ago, the Bureau of Indian Affairs tried something similar to your approach by creating boarding schools for Indian children, especially those in the western US (since Indians weren't even citizens back then, it was apparently okay to kidnap their kids). The idea was to get children away from the "bad influence" of their traditional culture and turn them into dark skinned "white men". Mostly, it made Indian parents who were suspicious of education, rootless, and prone to alcoholism.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Your "solution" smacks of something like the Nazis or the Communist Chinese did in the past -- state "ownership" of children -- which will never pass muster in a democratic society. This is what makes education in a democratic system so difficult.

Who, exactly, gets to judge which kids are "thugs", btw? Keyboard150, genoobie, and bannister are all teachers in the BPS schools I believe, but I suspect that from the same 1000 kids, each of their list of "100 potential thugs" would be very different. Moreover, modern educational research pretty much indicates that early childhood -- and therefore early childhood education -- is most important for success later in school. For your plan to work, 4 and 5 year-olds would have to be sent to live in dorms.

BTW, more than a century ago, the Bureau of Indian Affairs tried something similar to your approach by creating boarding schools for Indian children, especially those in the western US (since Indians weren't even citizens back then, it was apparently okay to kidnap their kids). The idea was to get children away from the "bad influence" of their traditional culture and turn them into dark skinned "white men". Mostly, it made Indian parents who were suspicious of education, rootless, and prone to alcoholism.

Typical Liberal BS. Nothing I SUGGESTED was close to what someone would have faced with the Nazis. People like you are so worried about protecting the lowest denomination that the BULK of the population gets the shaft.

The school should be 100% voluntary. Something like Gateway-Longview Lynde School which for years has provided education and housing for troubled kids. It has something like 126 kids with a 1 to 4 student teacher ratio.

If the kids or the parents of these kids do not want to go to a school like this, put them in a rubber room and throw away the key. The reason I say this is without the special services needed, the troubled kids are NEVER going to amount to anything but they will also hold back several other kids. THAT IS SIMPLY UNFAIR.

So you can take your Nazi comments and shove them where the sun does not shine. The simple truth is the current system DOES NOT WORK. More funding WILL NOT HELP. Teachers saying is is the fault of the parents DOES NOT SOLVE ANYTHING. Pointing the finger at lazy teachers or corrupt administrators or moronic school board members does nothing to change the product of the school system.


I dare anyone to show me how removing seriously troubled children from broken homes and placing them in a safe and productive environment is not an upgrade. Or how keeping these kids in a regular school will provide them more of a chance. I dare anyone to show me how removing seriously troubled children from the regular schools would not help the education process of children who actually want to become something or for parents who want their kids to become something.

[keyboard150]

Your "solution" smacks of something like the Nazis or the Communist Chinese did in the past -- state "ownership" of children -- which will never pass muster in a democratic society. This is what makes education in a democratic system so difficult.

Who, exactly, gets to judge which kids are "thugs", btw? Keyboard150, genoobie, and bannister are all teachers in the BPS schools I believe, but I suspect that from the same 1000 kids, each of their list of "100 potential thugs" would be very different. Moreover, modern educational research pretty much indicates that early childhood -- and therefore early childhood education -- is most important for success later in school. For your plan to work, 4 and 5 year-olds would have to be sent to live in dorms.

BTW, more than a century ago, the Bureau of Indian Affairs tried something similar to your approach by creating boarding schools for Indian children, especially those in the western US (since Indians weren't even citizens back then, it was apparently okay to kidnap their kids). The idea was to get children away from the "bad influence" of their traditional culture and turn them into dark skinned "white men". Mostly, it made Indian parents who were suspicious of education, rootless, and prone to alcoholism.

I'm sorry but I completely disagree with you. You can't compare ANY of those things to what is being discussed.

There are a great number of children in this school district that must be removed from the conventional classroom. They are not successful, and they do not allow other students to learn.
They must be seperated out.

There needs to be a series of procedures to determine what children need to be isolated.
I agree that a boot camp, militaristic type of school needs to be created for those children that refuse to do what is asked of them. Studies have shown that this is the best type of method---discipline, discipline, and DISCIPLINE!

There should be several levels of this, however....this should be the final step.
Maritime Charter School has had some success in turning around the lives of some difficult children--and they run a military-type program.
I know this for a fact---one of my former students goes there, and I ran into him last year.
He told me he is so thankful for the program...and what it has done for him.

He was an "educational terrorist" when he was in my building. Maritime taught him discipline, self respect---and taught him that he doesn't have to live the same life that he was brought up in.

By the way, there are still Native American schools.
Go to the Reservation just south of Syracuse...Nedrow/Lafayette. There is a Reservation School there.
The students and their families have the choice of attending nation school, or Lafayette Central.

I also disagree with your theory that the same 100 "thugs" would be different.
While there may be some differences, my experience has taught me that when a child is a problem---most of the time he/she is a problem for everyone. Very rarely have I seen otherwise.
Besides, records are kept on discipline for each child in the district. It wouldn't be too difficult to determine the children that need a more structured, severe program.

[keyboard150]

Your "solution" smacks of something like the Nazis or the Communist Chinese did in the past -- state "ownership" of children -- which will never pass muster in a democratic society. This is what makes education in a democratic system so difficult.

Who, exactly, gets to judge which kids are "thugs", btw? Keyboard150, genoobie, and bannister are all teachers in the BPS schools I believe, but I suspect that from the same 1000 kids, each of their list of "100 potential thugs" would be very different. Moreover, modern educational research pretty much indicates that early childhood -- and therefore early childhood education -- is most important for success later in school. For your plan to work, 4 and 5 year-olds would have to be sent to live in dorms.

BTW, more than a century ago, the Bureau of Indian Affairs tried something similar to your approach by creating boarding schools for Indian children, especially those in the western US (since Indians weren't even citizens back then, it was apparently okay to kidnap their kids). The idea was to get children away from the "bad influence" of their traditional culture and turn them into dark skinned "white men". Mostly, it made Indian parents who were suspicious of education, rootless, and prone to alcoholism.

I'm sorry but I completely disagree with you. You can't compare ANY of those things to what is being discussed.

There are a great number of children in this school district that must be removed from the conventional classroom. They are not successful, and they do not allow other students to learn.
They must be seperated out.

There needs to be a series of procedures to determine what children need to be isolated.
I agree that a boot camp, militaristic type of school needs to be created for those children that refuse to do what is asked of them. Studies have shown that this is the best type of method---discipline, discipline, and DISCIPLINE!

There should be several levels of this, however....this should be the final step.
Maritime Charter School has had some success in turning around the lives of some difficult children--and they run a military-type program.
I know this for a fact---one of my former students goes there, and I ran into him last year.
He told me he is so thankful for the program...and what it has done for him.

He was an "educational terrorist" when he was in my building. Maritime taught him discipline, self respect---and taught him that he doesn't have to live the same life that he was brought up in.

By the way, there are still Native American schools.
Go to the Reservation just south of Syracuse...Nedrow/Lafayette. There is a Reservation School there.
The students and their families have the choice of attending nation school, or Lafayette Central.

I also disagree with your theory that the same 100 "thugs" would be different.
While there may be some differences, my experience has taught me that when a child is a problem---most of the time he/she is a problem for everyone. Very rarely have I seen otherwise.
Besides, records are kept on discipline for each child in the district. It wouldn't be too difficult to determine the children that need a more structured, severe program.

4 and 5 year olds will not need to live in dorms. This is a gross over-exaggeration on your part.

Early childhood is the most important part of a child's education. What happens in school at this time will determine their success for the rest of their school career.

Dr. Williams has focused most of his attention on high school and middle level grades.
There is a severe lack of control and success in the primary grades. The focus needs to be THERE. We receive students in 5th grade that are severely lacking in skills.
The primary schools need to refocus their programs...and get on parents that don't seem to care about their child's education for anything but a break.
Schools are babysitting programs for these parents.

[steven]

Your "solution" smacks of something like the Nazis or the Communist Chinese did in the past -- state "ownership" of children --

ahhhhh but he is at least is ofering a solution.

Whats yours?

[GG716]

ahhhhh but he is at least is ofering a solution.

Whats yours?

Exchange them.


Trade them in for the new, cheaper, upgraded Chinese or Mexican model with more options.