I’ve been pondering over the past few weeks the seemingly insurmountable challenges faced by public schools in low-income communities.
Even after decades of school funding reforms and judicial “remedies,” the playing field between the schools that “have” and those that “have less” continues to tilt
A comprehensive history of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on California would surely conclude that the state’s school children have been treated shamefully.
A comprehensive history of the Covid-19 pandemic’s effect on California would surely conclude that the state’s schoolchildren have been treated shamefully.
The incessant political squabbling over closing and reopening schools, and the sporadic efforts at in-home learning, have once again demonstrate
Author: Paul Bruno (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
This study was presented today at the American Educational Research Association s 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting.
Main Findings:
The adoption of a school funding system in California that increased revenues for schools enrolling higher-need students led to an increase in the rate at which charter schools enrolled low-income students.
This effect was concentrated among charter schools initially enrolling low-income students at relatively low rates, suggesting that some charters cream skim high achieving, wealthier students, but that such behavior also can be mitigated.
Details:
For many, the expansion of charter schooling since the early 1990s has been a cause of concern. Among the major concerns is that charter schools will cream skim high-achieving, wealthier students from nearby traditional public schools, exacerbating segregation and burdening traditional schools with a combination of falling revenues and hig