Florida charter schools promote segregation

From the Orlando Sentinel, by Dave Weber

A new report out from the Century Foundation and the Poverty and Race Research Action Council says that charter schools across the country are more likely to have higher percentages of poor and/or minority students than traditional public schools.

So what?

Kids are more likely to achieve higher performance in more broadly integrated schools, the report says.

Diverse Charter Schools: Can Racial and Social Integration Promote Better Outcomes for Students? concludes that the answer is “yes,” based on observations at charters that are more diverse.

Researchers found, for example, that 36 percent of charter school students are enrolled iin schools where at least 90 percent of students are racial minorities, compared to only 16 percent of traditional public school students.

We looked at the growing segregation in Florida’s charter schools last year in a couple of articles: Florida Charters less diverse than other public schools and Grouping by race or ethnicity in charter schools has merit, backers say.

Florida education officials and charter backers took the “so what” approach last year, saying it does not matter if charters have high numbers of racial or ethnic minorities.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_education_edblog/2012/06/charter-schools-tend-toward-segregation-by-wealth-race-new-study-shows.html