<p>Originaloog, Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I think I agree with you about vouchers and private schools. The fear I have is that vouchers would mainly be used by the people who are already benefiting from private schools, so your solution of a lottery system makes sense. But then again, I wonder if private schools would be able to achieve the same results if they were not able to be so selective and kick kids out who did not meet standards of performance. </p>
<p>The article about charter schools is also very interesting. Could it be that part of the issue is that charter schools may teach in different ways that do not fall easily into being measured by “state standards?” For instance, in San Diego we have a charter school, High Tech High, funded partially by the Gates Foundation, that stressed an inter-related curriculum and handson exploration of technological related topics. It’s quite the “hot” school to get into - kids tend to do very well on the SATs and have been accepted to great schools (MIT, UC’s, HArvard). But, friends whose son entered there in the 8th grade were shocked when his math standardized state test scores dropped 50 points. Seems the school does not teach “algebra” “geometry” “calculus” but rather a more integrated math program, depending on what students need to know for projects and research they are doing in other classes. Now, these are kids who as sophomores are doing internships at Fortune 500 firms and winning intel science fairs. They may not be getting math according to narrow topic areas, but they come out - so the school says - with the full body they need. But they aren’t do well on state standardized tests that are designed to measure “algebra” “geometry” “calculus” on a unit basis. My friends decided they couldn’t risk it, and moved their son back into a “regular” school.</p>