Charter schools the answer to academic performance?

A Conservative think tank suggests charter schools could close gaps in student achievement. 

Researcher Maryanne Spurdle says charter schools could provide positive learning gains for disadvantaged students.

She says while the model doesn't directly target these students - it allows educators to have autonomy. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New insight into one the reading gap that we have
in this country and two where the charter school is
going to be part of the answer. Now, the claim
is we have the largest gap in reading ability between
advantaged and disadvantaged in the English speaking world. So this
comes to us from the Maximum Institute, the research of
Marion spirtles with us. Mary, I'm morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning mate.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
So one third of fifteen year old struggle. What does
struggle mean?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
That would be they don't have the kind of fluent
literacy that you would expect to be able to function well.
So it's not saying they can't read. And I didn't
contact that research, but the research was an international study
and we've got a lot of gaps if you look
at the piece of studies, if you look at other
research that kind of drills down into who's doing well

(00:46):
and who isn't. We've got plenty of students doing fine,
but the ones who aren't there's a large number and
they really aren't doing well.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
And what's the link to charter schools? Are you arguing
that simply because there were charter school they can then
do better?

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, they're not not a maagine bullet. What I was
researching was how we can get more equitable access to
good education options. And so I did a lot of
looking overseas at what's going on there, especially in the
English speaking world and in the OECD. New Zealand is
lagging really far behind as far as how much public
funding we give to independently operated schools. If you look

(01:21):
at like a protograph of you've got equity on one side,
as far as you know how many how much gaps
there are between high and low performing students, and you've
got public funding for independently operated schools on the other.
It's a pretty even line between how much public funding
there's independent schools and how equitable the systems are. And

(01:44):
that's simply because the kids who have the fewest choices,
if you don't publicly fund independent schools, they aren't going
to have the same options that wealthy your kids have.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
All right, So this becomes political coals in the child
of school system is already political. Schools in and of
themselves are not because they're charter schools automatically brilliant. They
can be good and bad, right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
The things that you're looking for are how are schools operated,
how are they managed, and how do students access them.
And if you've got open access, that the things that
narrows in equity. And then if you've got local management,
if you've got educators making decisions, that tends to be
a good thing. So in the Netherlands, the way they
address this is they fund public and private schools equally.

(02:31):
In England they've got free schools and academies which are
independently operated but similar to charter schools, not quite as autonomous,
but they're independently operated, publicly funded heads can attend for free.
In the US, some states, not all of them, but
most of them have charter schools that are really similar
to the ones thin post here. They've been operating some

(02:52):
of them for thirty years and the research into them
shows that they students there are twice as likely to
do that is in equivalent students in state schools.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
So what you're suggesting is when there's a pressure on
a school to perform, ie a charter school, because of
course they're sitting up in this country, we give you
money and we have an expectation you will perform. And
when you have freer access to services, no matter whether
they're charter schools, or not, the chances are you are
going to do better.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, and some of that is just the local assets.
People on the ground have a better idea of what
students in that community need. And so we've got we've
got schools doing that. We've got designated character schools, but
the government doesn't approve during many schools for that category.
That nine of the fifty two were the partnership schools
that operated ten years ago. They're still operating. By the way,

(03:41):
there the chart school. If you never failed the school
did find, they're still publicly funded. They're still operating, they're
just in a different model now.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Great insight, Mary, I appreciate it very much. Mari Inspital,
who's with the Maximum Institute. For more from the Mic
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