R.I. gets ‘D’ in charter school report

PROVIDENCE – Again this year, Rhode Island ranks 33rd out of 42 states and the District of Columbia for implementing policies that foster charter school growth.
That ranking, which includes a letter grade of “D”, is a finding in the report, “Charter School Laws Across the States 2015: Rankings and Scorecard” released Monday by the Center for Education Reform.
As of February, Rhode Island had 21 charter schools, the report states, and there is a limit of 35 allowed by law, with half reserved for at-risk students. The ranking is the same as last year’s.
The center is a think tank dedicated to accelerating the growth and independence of the education reform movement. Only four states and Washington D.C., earned A’s, with the nation’s capital holding on to the top ranking for seven years in a row. Eight states earned B’s, 19 C’s, and 11 earned D’s or F’s.
“Rhode Island has a very weak charter law across the board,” the report states. “Only the state can approve charter schools, there is a cap on the number of charters that can be opened, and charters that do open are given little freedom to determine how to operate or to manage their teachers.”
Strong charter laws feature independent, multiple authorizers, few limits on expansion, equitable funding and high levels of school autonomy, said Alison Consoletti Zgainer, CER executive vice president and the report’s lead editor.
“Many states that appear to have all of the critical components of a strong law struggle with the implementation of key provisions, which is why the rankings over the past few years have shown little variance and have remained relatively stagnant,” she stated.
CER has studied and evaluated charter school laws based on their construction and implementation since 1996, in an effort to determine whether or not they ensure the creation of numerous quality learning opportunities for children, which is most policies’ intent.
Charter school growth does continue at a steady, nearly linear pace nationally, especially in states with charter laws graded ‘A’ or ‘B,’ but an even more accelerated pace would allow charter schools to play a more central role in addressing the demands and needs of the nation’s students, said Kara Kerwin, president of CER.
The full report is available at HERE.

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