So the Tennessee Charter School Center has a new report out about the “quality” of seats in Metro Nashville Public Schools.
Andrea Zelinski has a solid report on the report over at the Nashville Scene.
A couple of takeaways:
1) The Charter Center wants to open more charters than the recent MNPS resolution would seem to allow (not surprising, really).
2) Nearly 1/3 of all Charter seats are deemed “low quality” by the Center’s own report
3) The Center is advocating closing low quality charters — a step in the right direction
4) It seems reasonable that as other clusters become more crowded due to growth, the MNPS resolution should be expanded to include those clusters for future charters
5) In spite of constant battling between the Board and the Charter Center, there is some common ground: Close low-performing charters (the center could help by taking the lead on recommending schools to be closed) and allow new charters in more clusters as growth dictates.
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Don’t forget that they cite an online poll as proof that the public supports them. Wow, that’s so scientific.
Thanks for spotlighting this report. I’m curious, does Nashville have any solid mechanism in place for closing low performing charters? That’s something we sorely need in Memphis.
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