September 7, 2005

Contact: Susan Martin Tel: 415/955-6120

New book reveals these schools’ “secrets to academic success,” which many standard public schools are lacking

SAN FRANCISCO – Some of California’s charter schools, often serving low-income regions, are shattering the status quo and producing remarkable gains in student achievement. According to a new book by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), Free to Learn: Lessons from Model Charter Schools, the reasons for these schools’ success are simple – proven curriculum, student testing, discipline, teacher accountability, and high expectations.

Authors Lance T. Izumi and Xiaochin Claire Yan profile seven “turnaround” charter schools that are far surpassing the results of their neighboring public school counterparts. “Unlike traditional public schools, where low student achievement and ineffective teaching methods often go uncorrected for decades, charters must show results to stay open and attract students,” said Izumi, co-author and director of education studies at PRI.

Izumi also explains, “The chief reason the charter schools are successful is very simple: freedom and the wisdom to use it effectively. Schools are free from micro-managing districts and meddling politicians. Principals are free to be leaders, and not left to function as mid-level bureaucrats. Teachers are free to practice their time-honored professions, and are not reduced to the status of babysitters.”

Based on school surveys, site visits, and interviews with principals, Free to Learn identifies the following essential ingredients for a successful school:

• Strong academics and discipline; poorly performing schools emphasized race, culture, and unproven learning concepts such as “self-actualization”
• Student testing; underperforming schools avoid testing or hold back academically weak students in order to boost their overall scores
• Textbooks that meet state academic standards curricula; poorly performing schools fail to rely on textbooks and state standards
• High expectations for students, teachers, and staff; poorly performing schools gave poverty and high-crime as excuses for failure
• Rigorous teacher accountability and the elimination of teacher tenure
• Strong subject knowledge among teachers, whom successful schools often recruited from Craigslist.com
• Business savvy principals
• Strong fiscal management, enabling these schools to achieve budget surpluses, despite often receiving fewer dollars than standard public schools

These successful charter schools not only provide immediate improvements in the academic performance of their students, they also serve as a model for how all schools can meet the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act. “The rigorous learning and testing models the charters employ should be reviewed by educators nationwide so that America’s schools can meet the law’s requirements,” said Izumi.

As Ben Chavis, principal of American Indian Charter School, told the authors: “I believe as a minority parent and educator, the No Child Left Behind Act is the greatest educational policy created by any branch of the United States government for minority children in the past hundred years.”

Free to Learn concludes with a special resource section for parents. It offers a “Do and Don’t” checklist of how to spot effective charter schools. These resources are also available at PRI’s website at www.pacificresearch.org.

As Izumi and Yan show, these model schools provide tremendous insight on how to raise the bar in student achievement, while also serving low-income communities. Their principals and students are an inspiration to educators everywhere.

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