Last month, Karega Rausch, NACSA Vice President of Research & Evaluation provided testimony at the NAACP’s public hearing about issues in charter schools in Orlando, Florida. Following his remarks, he penned an opinion piece urging the NAACP to rescind the moratorium and work with NACSA and others to improve charter school oversight. Below is the opening of the piece, which can be found in its entirety on Education Post.
In response to public outcry over its call for a charter moratorium, the NAACP is on a listening tour across the country to learn more about charter schools. In my testimony at one such hearing in Orlando, I urged the NAACP to recognize two things that are true at the same time: many charters are doing outstanding work for students and communities and should be supported, while some are failing and must dramatically improve or stop serving students.
First, many charter schools are changing Black minds and lives for the better. These charter schools are eliminating the achievement gap between low-income children of color and their higher-income White peers. They are literally giving low-income children of color a chance to get into Ivy League schools and compete with the very brightest and wealthiest kids in America.
At the same time, too many charter schools in America continue to underperform and fail to serve our children well. We should all loudly and vigorously join the NAACP in calling for a high bar and in demanding both accountability and transparency.
