By Elizabeth Ling, DFER NY State Director
In NYC, critics of charter schools have compared them unfavorably to district schools by asserting that charters have fewer English Language Learner (ELL) students than their district counterparts.
A recent report by Success Charter Network (SCN) shows that the story is more complex than that. The report, and related blogpost by Peter Murphy of The Chalkboard, take a closer look at the dynamics underlying the ELL statistics of NYC public schools.
The SCN study contends that it is the NYC school system – not public charter schools in New York City – that is failing its ELL students, based on its analysis of Department of Education data. Too many ELLs–including ones born in the US–are not achieving English proficiency within a reasonable time frame. This is attributed in part to perverse funding incentives, where “[e]very time an [ELL] student succeeds, it means a significant financial loss to the school.” In contrast, NY’s charter schools do not receive any additional money, beyond regular per-pupil funding, for a student that is classified ELL.
In his commentary, Murphy notes: “While the ELL student population in charters is low compared to districts, the findings of the Success Charter Network study show that the city school district percentages are way too high as a result of students remaining as ELL for too long by not teaching them sufficient English within a more reasonable time frame.”
Charter school authorizers should encourage high quality charter operators to add schools in areas of the city with greater concentrations of ELL students as at least one means to bring these students to English proficiency faster.
Elizabeth Ling oversees strategy and operations for DFER’s New York State advocacy programs. She focuses on building coalitions of various education reform groups, and works with legislators and government officials to help shape public education policies.