By Bill Wilson & Joe Nathan

After working in urban communities for a combination of more than 80 years, one of us serving as Minnesota’s State Commissioner of Human Rights and being elected first African American to serve as St. Paul’s City Council Chair, and helping produce major gains with low income and students of color, we vigorously disagree with a recent assertion on the Charter Notebook blog site that “…any achievement” by a group of students at a charter school that is predominantly of one race is “hollow.”  (Rachel Scott, "Independent Charter Schools and Diversity, Part One: The Problem of "Resegregation," January 18, 2012)

Imposed separation because of or on the basis of race or color is the classic definition of segregation. People choosing of their own free will to attend a public school is the exercise of liberty. The right to assemble and exercising freedom of choice is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. How then is choosing which charter school to attend not consistent with the right of assembly? Unlike imposed segregation, charter schools include all who apply or wish to come. Unlike segregated schools of the 1950’s and 1960’s, these schools most certainly do not exclude anyone because of their race or color of skin.

One of us (Wilson) responded several years ago at the Minnesota legislature to the charge that charter schools such as the one he founded were “segregated.” He differentiated between schools like his (Higher Ground Academy) and the segregated public school he was forced to attend in Indiana: “We had no choice,” he recalled. “I was forced to attend an inferior school, farther from home than nearby, better-funded ‘whites-only’ schools. Higher Ground is open to all. No one is forced to attend. Quite a difference.”

Minnesota’s largest daily newspaper, the Star Tribune has found for the last two years that the vast majority of Minneapolis-St Paul area public schools that are “beating the odds” are charter public schools. In September, 2011, a graphic appeared in the Star Tribune listing the 10 public schools in reading and math with high percentages of low income students that had the highest percentage of students proficient in reading or math on the official statewide examinations. See: www.startribune.com/newsgraphics/129810153.html.

The top eight of the ten schools listed in math were charter public schools, and the top nine of ten schools listed in reading were charter public schools. These were schools that “showed the highest percentage of students scoring at grade level or better, despite having a high number of students living in poverty.” To be eligible to be on the list, a school had to enroll at least 85% students from low-income families.

The vast majority of these high-ranking charter public schools enrolled 80% or more students of color. Many of the “beat the odds” schools enrolled 90% or more from one race. Bill Wilson, co-author of this blog post (and former Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights) founded and is director of one of these schools. US News and World Report also has listed the school Wilson helped start, Higher Ground Academy, as one of the nation’s finest high schools.

Denying the value of these schools, as Scott does in her recent blog post, reminds us of what Ralph Ellison wrote about in the civil rights classic, Invisible Man. Ellison wrote, in part, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."

It is a well-known historical fact that slavery and segregation excluded black people from attending schools and colleges. Even so, abolitionists and other people of good will set forth a process for the building of educational institutions that would provide education to blacks as was being provided to the white population. Over time, many start-up institutions built a rich tradition and evolved into what is now known today as historically black colleges and universities. Today, by choice, many black and white students alike attend and graduate from these institutions. The valuable contributions historically black colleges and universities have and continue to make to the education of young men and women in America is unquestionable. Without these great educational institutions, generations of black and other persons of color will have gone without a meaningful education. Likewise, public charter schools of choice are at the beginning stages of serving as a viable conduit and pathway through which children of different backgrounds are able to access high quality education.

Higher Ground Academy as well as some other public charter schools are doing an exceptional job of educating children of color. The success of these charter schools can be attributed to setting high student expectations and also holding teachers accountability. At the end of the day, public charter schools will ultimately serve to raise the bar for America's K - 12 education system by demonstrating that all children, regardless of race or color, can and will learn.

Some charters on the Star Tribune “Beat the Odds” list enroll a variety of students. The Concordia Creative Learning Academy has a diverse student body, including African American, Hmong, Hispanic and white students. We think that freely selected, racially diverse schools certainly should be available as options for families.

The charter public school movement, in part, is about the expansion of opportunity and justice in American education (Nathan). The fact that civil rights hero Rosa Parks devoted part of the last decade of her life to the creation of charter schools is one more reminder of this heritage (Abdullah).

While far from perfect, many charter public schools that have attracted predominantly students of one race are accomplishing much more than Scott’s blog asserted. As Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, a Democrat, has noted, if we are to make considerable progress in reducing achievement gaps and increasing overall achievement, we need to learn from and apply lessons from the nation’s most effective public schools, whether they are charter or district. But readers would not know, given the blogger’s bias, that some of Minnesota’s (and others around the country) most effective public schools are the ones she is criticizing.

We agree that all charters are not effective. Ineffective charters should be closed. Part of the rationale for chartering public schools comes from a remarkable 1968 Harvard Education Review article, “Alternative Public School Systems,” by African American psychologist Kenneth Clark. Professor Clark’s famous “doll study” was cited by the US Supreme Court in “Brown v. Board of Education.” Clark described “obstacles...to effective education” including “such fetishes as the inviolability of the neighborhood school concept.” Clark urged “Alternative Public School Systems... financed by states, operated outside traditional districts, that are created by colleges, universities, labor unions, business, industry....” (our emphasis). Sound familiar?  Such groups have started some of the most effective charter public schools in the country.

Enrollment in Minnesota charter public schools continues to grow – from less than 10,000 ten years ago to about 39,000 this year. This growth has occurred as enrollment in district public schools has declined. And charters in Minneapolis and Minnesota enroll a higher percentage of low income, limited English speaking and students of color than the average district public schools.

Some families found their youngsters excelled in district public schools. District public schools remain an important option, as they were for our families. Making progress requires, in part, identifying and learning from outstanding public schools. Describing achievement in places like Harvest Prep and Higher Ground Academy as “hollow”  hurts, rather than helps work for greater justice in this country.

The views expressed in Charter Notebook blogs represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association or the U.S. Department of Education.

NOTES:

Abdullah, Halimah, “Rights Hero Seeks to Open School in Detroit: Rosa Parks joins the growing charter school movement,” The New York Times, June 30, 1997, p. A12. 

Clark, Kenneth B. “Alternative public school systems.” Harvard Educational Review 32, no. 1 (Winter, 1968): 100–113.

Nathan, Joe. Charter Schools: Creating Hope and Opportunity in American Education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1997.