An important question

An interesting piece was published on The Answer Sheet by Matthew Di Carlo.  I found it interesting because while not an endorsement of charter schools, it makes a very important statement about successful charter schools.  Di Carlo's summary of the research on charter schools is that for the most part charter schools are very average or even bad.  This is not really new information.  I've discussed the implications here more than once.

Di Carlo concludes that the real insights to be gained from the research is that there are pockets where charter schools have been very successful over time.  In other words, we need to study what those charter schools are doing that might be able to impact other schools (public or charter). 

One of the real truths is that charter schools will not go away soon.  Opponents of charter schools (and the real number is probably less than they would have us imagine) fight a lot against charter schools.  It's right to fight bad ones.  They should go away or be better managed (just like bad public schools).  However, everyone should be happy when charter schools show good results with students and should try to emulate what they can about good charter schools.  Unfortunately, it seems that research is still to be done or has not been well publicized. 

It's also clear that for some districts admitting that they have emulated successful charter school characteristic would be like admitting defeat.  It is as if districts who oppose charter schools would rather continue in mediocrity or adopt less effective new methods rather than admit that a neighboring charter school has found some answers. 

It's important that as charter schools continue to exist and to increase that non-charter public schools also work to investigate what works in those good charter schools to assist in their own development.  The theoretical discussion about whether charter schools should exist may continue, but the fact of charter schools existence is here.