Charter Schools are Benefiting from the Failure of Common Core in Public Schools

Confusing common core standards have led to a steady decrease in public school enrollment sizes, losing 5 million students from the year 2009–2015, and more than doubled charter school enrollment sizes from 349,642 students to 1,407,817 students in the year 2009.

Created in 2009, common core standards set a list of goals for schools in the United States. The purpose of common core is to teach children to think critically, according to core standards. The goal is to better prepare students for college and careers.

Common core teaches students to comprehend what they are learning instead of teaching students to memorize facts. But the new common core standards have had an opposite effect, according to Edsource.

Common core is a good concept but the teachers are not given enough time to teach the students right, said Tabitha Pavlack, substitute teacher, and mother of three.

The new standardized tests, which come with common core, are showing low scores. “Only one-third of California students in grades 3–8 and grade 11 met the math standard,” according to Edsource.

“The tests are so intense,” according to Business Insider. “It takes the average student eight to 10 hours to complete.”

Teachers are under pressure to help the students pass these tests, according to Business Insider, causing teachers to teach only to the test. Students are now memorizing meaningless facts to pass the test.

“I have never felt so stupid in my entire life,” said Pavlack when she was trying to learn a math lesson for a kindergarten class. “It is complicated and unnecessary.”

“61 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the quality of K-12 education in the United States,” according to Gallup. More than half of Americans are unhappy with common core, according to Education curriculum reform.

“Common core is very aggravating,” said Pavlack, “Homework takes an hour when it should take 20 minutes.”

Many parents are dissatisfied with common core in public schools. Pavlack said it was frustrating to relearn basic math to help her daughter finish her homework.

Public school districts are experiencing a steady decrease in enrollment sizes. From 2009–2015, public schools lost 5 million students.

The number of children enrolled in charter schools increased from 349,642 students to 1,407,817 students in the year 2009. Parents dissatisfaction rate with the public school system may have led them to enroll their children in charter schools rather than public ones, according to the Center for Public Education.

There are few charter schools compared to public schools. But, there was a 7 percent increase in the growth of charter schools for the 2012–2013 school year. This contributed to a 47 percent increase since the school year of 2006–2007. This shows a steady increase in the growth of charter schools according to U.S. News.

“The number of charter schools increased from 1.7 percent to 6.2 percent,” according to the National Center for Education Statistics.” A 4.5 percent increase from the school year 1999–2000 to the school year 2012–2013.”

Charter schools are businesses that are independent of the state. These schools receive most of their funding from outside donors. Due to their independence, charter schools do not have common core standards.

“Charter schools are more fun than public schools,” said Leslie Kruzic, a former private school teacher. “I was able to teach how I wanted and the kids loved it.”

Charter schools have more freedom than public schools because they are independently run. They are able to create their own curriculum and teach how they want, according to Public Charters.

Charter schools also have smaller class sizes so the teachers have more time with the students, said Kruzic. “The kids learn a lot faster and they have more fun.”

Small class sizes have shown to improve child learning according to Parents Across America.

More parents have been enrolling their children in charter schools to escape from common core, said Kruzic. But charter schools have problems too.

“There is not enough money for a charter to have the necessary staff,” said Trish Owens, CCSD Teacher. “This causes kids to get into more trouble than they would at a public school.”

During the 2011–2012 school year, charter schools suspended 7.8 percent of their students for misbehaving, according to HuffPost.

Charter schools also lack special staff and programs, like special ed and speech pathology, said Owen’s. Those kids get sent to public schools so they can get the attention they need.

Most charter schools discourage families from enrolling if the school can not accommodate their children. Charter schools lack the funding needed to provide for special needs students, according to Education Next.

Charter schools also move around often. They rent out lofts and warehouses to use as their school building. Due to lack of funding, charter schools can not afford a permanent building, according to The Center for Education Reform.

This means that charter schools can close. Also, the building may be in a different location every year, according to the Center for Education Reform.

Despite some problems, charter schools have been benefiting from the downfall of common core through an increase in enrollment sizes.

Confusing common core standards have led to a decline in public school enrollment sizes. This has also led to an increase in charter school enrollment sizes.