Grading Our Educational System

Grading Education Isn't Easy

It has become increasingly obvious to me that everyone that looks through the window every day at school, does not really understand what's going on. Everyone has an opinion about the state of education, yet no one who gives those opinions has the correct answer to solve our problems. Maybe if everyone started with themselves, asked themselves what they could do to help, it would fix itself, without our state governors stepping in, without our government stepping in, and without our President stepping in. In this article, the author discusses the issues of how public and charter schools are performing in Ohio. The concept of a charter school is to allow parents a choice. The charter schools give parents the opportunity to put their students in a community school that is exempt from certain state mandates so that the school can put its best effort forward. These schools generally receive more money than other public schools, but can also incur unintended costs. The success rate of these schools is extremely high in most cases, with almost 35,000 students enrolled in Georgia charter schools, there is a lot going on. In Ohio, there are over 75,000 students enrolled in charter schools. These schools have traditionally outscored public schools in goals for value added education. In recent years, though, regular schools have taken over. Progress is being made every year in all schools, for the most part, but can we tell which is truly doing better? Does this mean that charter schools are useless now? No, I don't believe so, but there are some issues charter schools are facing that are much greater than public schools. With the current economic state, charter schools are in financial danger. Many schools are failing and having to close or revert back to a public school. This costs jobs and social and economic impacts for the surrounding communities. What can we do to save charter schools or improve our public schools? Outsiders cannot answer those questions. I wish I could say I had all of the answers, but I think everyone in education would agree with that statement. Every person that is an educator or an administrator has some piece of the puzzle to fix what is going on. We are losing ground to other countries in aptitude and ability, yet we are complaining instead of fixing. Let's get on the same page, make some goals, and go accomplish them. I bet the entire country would be a little better off.