Charting a Path to Success

By way of Edspresso, I found an article about Chicago’s Noble charter schools:

Olsen and his staff have actually convinced kids that long school days, lots of homework and a grueling work ethic is good for them.

The curriculum requires twice as much math and twice as much reading and writing than what a regular high school requires. And when people here say, “Failure isn’t an option,” they mean it.

Read the whole thing to find out what a successful network of charters looks like.

Noble schools have done a great job of keeping kids in school and preparing them for college. They employ the time-tested methods of long school days, weekend tutoring, and high expectations that are perfectly legal options for all public schools, but for some reason are implemented only by schools like charters, that face competition.

I find it hard to temper my enthusiasm about charters like Noble. But I should note that Noble’s success story doesn’t mean all charters are great, just like a few low-achieving schools in Missouri don’t indicate the failure of charters generally. Some charters are spectacular; some are not. The more charters a state allows to open, the sooner we’ll find the best ones.