What will it take to improve public education in South Carolina? In New
Orleans, it took the storm of the century, Hurricane Katrina, to purge
the self-serving, corrupt and entrenched bureaucracy out of the public
education system and replace it with a charter school system that is
producing startling results. It was as if the floodwaters enveloped the
New Orleans school system and flushed it out to the Gulf of Mexico
along with the other putrid refuse of the city.
The state of
Louisiana took control of 107 of New Orleans's 128 schools after the
devastation of Katrina. Since then, 58 public schools have reopened, 31
of which are charter schools. These charter schools are free from
school board oversight and are allowed to set their own curriculums.
Half of New Orleans's 27,000 students are enrolled in charter schools.
Nowhere else in the country is there a higher proportion of charter
school students.
One of these schools, McDonough 15, is
dedicated to serving low-income, minority students. It is associated
with a national network of schools know as KIPP (Knowledge Is Power
Program). The KIPP program stresses a rigorous curriculum, an extra
long workday (8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) and strict discipline. This isn't
drudgery, however, because the teachers make the school day fun and
spice it up with creative arts, including jazz classes. Good behavior
is rewarded with "paycheck points" which can add up to fun
opportunities such as school dances or tickets to local attractions.
In many cases, McDonough 15 students in grades 3 through 8 started one
or two grade levels behind in reading ability when the school opened in
August 2006. Today, eighth graders at McDonough 15 have reading skills
better than 78 percent of eighth graders nationwide. Math scores soared
as well, going from 21st percentile nationally to 80th percentile.
These are impressive results and show, without a shadow of doubt, just
how far and fast students with some of the worst backgrounds imaginable
can go given the right environment for learning.
Meanwhile, in
South Carolina, the entrenched and status-quo-loving public education
system remains in place with predictable results. Years of throwing
more and more money at the system has changed little, and the latest
PACT scores show that our middle school students are actually doing
worse. The high school graduation rate has declined as well from 78
percent in 2003 to 70.9 percent in 2007, and to top it all off, South
Carolina has the second lowest SAT scores in the nation. (It would be
the lowest, but Maine requires all students to take the test whether
they plan to attend college or not.) The S.C. Department of Education's
goal to have student achievement ranked in the top half of states
nationally by 2010 is moving farther and farther from its grasp.
Since the original 1996 Charter School Act, South Carolina has opened
27 charter schools with 4,500 enrolled students. After 11 years, why so
few? Charter schools must be approved by a state advisory committee as
well as by the local school board, and the State Department of
Education has the power to overrule their decisions. This is not
autonomy. Charter schools will not flourish unless they are free from
governmental interference. Will it take a disaster on the scale of
Hurricane Katrina to change South Carolina's education system? Let's
hope not, but it will take tenacity, courage and bulldog determination
to shake up the status quo.
Sincerely,
Henry Clay
Publisher
About the Cover:
Iced tea is the symbol of South Carolina hospitality.
Photography by Jeff Amberg
This Issue