We Don't Need Your Charter Schools

Common lies that a used by politicians in defence of education reform.

Lie 1 : New Zealand's education system is failing

• Of the 65 countries or economies participating in PISA 2009, only two OECD countries, and two non-OECD partner economies performed better than New Zealand.
• http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/topics/research/pisa_research/pisa_2009
• http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/6091397/NZ-near-top-in-OECD-education-figures
• Refer to the "Our System is Great" doc http://www.facebook.com/groups/237491956316493/doc/241707565894932/

Lie 2: Teachers are not subject to assessment of their work

• OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes
• http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/oecd-review-on-evaluation-and-assessment-frameworks-for-improving-school-outcomes/chapter-5-teacher-appraisal

Lie 3: 20% of children are failing with the current system

• These figures are quoted in Education Aotearoa from Emeritus Professor Terry Crooks - the 20% failure rate that gets bandied about is the number who don't pass NCEA level 2The actual fail rate at this level is 16%, and of these;   - 3% with disabilities (ie can't hold a pencil)   - 6% can pass, but are choosing not to go forward as candidates   - 7% who do need extra support
• http://www.educationaotearoa.org.nz/all-stories/2010/4/14/its-just-politics.html

• Children are being failed by their economic circumstances, not the education system. A lot of research shows a high correlation between failure and social inequality.
• http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/publications/child-wellbeing-study
• Students at US schools with less than 10% poor students outperform Finland.

Lie 4: Parents do not have a choice

• Parents elect boards of trustees which had considerable autonomy in the delivery of the National Curriculum. Much of that autonomy has been stripped out of the public sector by "National Standards", only to be offered to the private sector in the form of charter schools.
• NZ schooling system is already incredibly diverse.
• Choice for a few would lead to less choice for the many.
• We want to have a great local school for every child, not just the children that win the lottery to their local charter school.

Lie 5: You need to test children to see how they are progressing

• Finland consistantly ranks at the top of world education statistics. Finland scorns almost all standardized testing before age 16 and discourages homework. Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, Education Ministry official and a former math teacher, is the author of 15 books says, “The first six years of education are not about academic success, We don't measure children at all. It's about being ready to learn and finding your passion. The primary aim of education is to serve as an equalizing instrument for society”.
• http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/from-finland-an-intriguing-school-reform-model.html?_r=2&nl=nyregion&emc=ura1
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharon-higgins/why-do-the-education-refo_1_b_775087.html

Lie 6: Unions are a road block to progress in education

• Finland consistantly ranks at the top of world education statistics. 96 percent of teachers in Finland are unionised.

Lie 7: Charter schools in the USA perform better that public schools

• In 2009, the most authoritative study of charter schools was conducted by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University. The report is the first detailed national assessment of charter schools. It analyzed 70% of the nation's students attending charter schools and compared the academic progress of those students with that of demographically matched students in nearby public schools. The report found that 17% of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools; 46% showed no difference from public schools; and 37% were significantly worse than their traditional public school counterparts
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_school#National_evaluations_of_charter_schools