H/T and thanks to Nancy Willing for passing this on:
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
4805 MT. HOPE DRIVE • BALTIMORE, MD 21215-3297 • (410) 580-5777BENJAMIN TODD JEALOUS
President & Chief Executive Officer
ROSLYN M. BROCK
Chairman, Board of Directors
LEON W RUSSELL
Chairman, Resolutions Committee
National Board of DirectorsThe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation’s oldest, largest and most widely-recognized grassroots based civil rights organization. Formed in 1909 by a multiracial group of progressive thinkers, the NAACP is a nonprofit organization established with the objective of ensuring the
political, educational, social, and economic equality of people of color. For over 102 years, the NAACP has challenged this nation to uphold its promise of equal opportunity toward the goal of eliminating racial prejudice and removing all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes.In a process established by the NAACP Constitution, this resolution was adopted by the delegates to the 101st Annual Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, during the legislative session in July, 2010. It was subsequently ratified by the NAACP National Board of Directors at its meeting on October 15, 2010. This resolution is now the policy of the Association, and is “binding on the Board of Directors, the
Executive Committee, the Officers, and all units.”Charter Schools
WHEREAS, charter schools are public schools which were originally designed to explore new approaches to educate students; and
WHEREAS, in some cases, charter schools have become a school model that is used to segregate students; and
WHEREAS, charter schools have too seldom informed the education community regarding innovative instructional strategies that accelerate academic achievement in the general population of students; and
WHEREAS, the Center for Research in Educational Outcomes (CREDO) which examined charter school data in fifteen (15) states and the District of Columbia confirmed that only 17% of the charter school students in the study outperformed their peers, while 46% performed no better and 37% performed worse; and
WHEREAS, charter schools operate more autonomously than traditional public schools in the use of funds, adherence to state laws and school policies, selection and removal of students, and the selection and removal of staff, thus creating separate and unequal conditions for success; and
WHEREAS, charter schools draw funding away from already underfunded traditional public schools; and
WHEREAS, the NAACP recognizes that at best, quality charter schools serve only a small percentage of children of color and disadvantaged students for whom the NAACP advocates relative to said population left behind in failing schools; and
WHEREAS, the NAACP recognizes the urgent need to provide quality education for all children, not only those fortunate enough to win lotteries to attend existing quality charter schools; and
WHEREAS, the NAACP is committed to finding broad based, effective solutions for immediate implementation to improve the quality of public education for all children.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP will strongly advocate for immediate, overarching improvements to the existing public education system; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP rejects the emphasis on charter schools as the vanguard approach for the education of children, instead of focusing attention, funding, and policy advocacy on improving existing, low performing public schools and will work through local, state and federal legislative processes to ensure that all public schools are provided the necessary funding, support and autonomy necessary to educate all students; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP will urge all of its Units to work to support public schools throughout the nation to educate all children to their highest potential.
Roslyn M. Brock Leon Russell Benjamin Todd Jealous
Chairman Chairman President & CEO
National Board of Directors Committee on Resolutions
Here’s what caught my attention:
WHEREAS, in some cases, charter schools have become a school model that is used
to segregate students; and
Ya think? Charter Schools have also allowed School Districts to shift their responsibilities to these students to Charters. Which is why I’ve always wondered why Charter proponents wanted to serve on Public School Boards. Always struck me as being an employee of Pepsi, but promoting Coke. And you gotta love the way a Public School District Board’s plan for your public school is to give it away. It’s almost as if they’re saying, “Hey, we stink at this education thingy, so we’ll give it to someone else.”
WHEREAS, the NAACP recognizes the urgent need to provide quality education for all children, not only those fortunate enough to win lotteries to attend existing quality charter schools; and
A commenter over at Kilroy’s summed it up this way:
I have to chime in again, You NCS High School haters have the “crab bucket” syndrome( a way of thinking best described by the phrase “if I can’t have it, neither can you.” The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs. Individually, the crabs could easily escape from the pot, but instead, they grab at each other in a useless “king of the hill” competition (or sabotage) which prevents any from escaping and ensures their collective demise. We should not stop a sucessful school, but try to raise the unsucessful, we should all be working together instead of fighting against one another. That way everyone could escape the “pot” of bad education.
Not even sure where to begin with that I got mine sentiment, let alone the crab metaphor. But I do get what he/she is saying. Many school districts have adopted an every man for himself policy when it comes to educating children. These Districts and Charter Schools seem to thrive on pitting parent against parent. After all, if we are fighting amongst ourselves, it lets those in charge (and paid) for educating our children off the hook for… educating our children.
WHEREAS, the Center for Research in Educational Outcomes (CREDO) which examined charter school data in fifteen (15) states and the District of Columbia confirmed that only 17% of the charter school students in the study outperformed their peers, while 46% performed no better and 37% performed worse; and
Charter schools have always claimed that they can do better than traditional public schools with less tax payer dollars. 37% of Charter students performed worse than their peers. 46% performed no better than their peers. I think this educational experiment is over.