The charter prophylactic

Charter schools were an early 90s response to calls for vouchers. Public schools better repeat that lesson now that ESAs are spreading.

We study educational failure too much in proportion to success. Admiring problems isn't a strategy for solving them. Asking "what works" is a powerful question.

In my state, Minnesota, the birthplace of charter schools, I have a front-row seat to hopeful steps forward in education.

Here's one to add to your doing something good category. Math and Science Academy (MSA) in suburban Minneapolis is not only a thriving high school but also a place where every student category beats the odds, including Black students, those with disabilities, and low-income students.

Fulfilling the promise of chartering schools

I look for these powerful counternarratives to respond to those who deny our communities the right to define excellence on our terms. From its modest beginnings in 1999 with fewer than 200 students, MSA has emerged as Minnesota's top-performing high school.

Today, it's accessible to all, not just those who can afford expensive private schools or homes in wealthy districts. Charters were meant to do this from the beginning, and with so many negative campaigns against them, we must remind folks why charters matter. MSA is an integrated, well-appointed, and academically successful school. Isn't that what many of us want?

Nationally, the evidence supporting the potential of schools like MSA to serve as vehicles for Black educational empowerment has grown increasingly compelling.

Stanford University's CREDO research reveals that Black students in charter schools gain 35 additional days of learning in reading and 29 in math compared to their traditional public school peers. For Black students in poverty - those most systematically marginalized by the conventional system - these gains expand to 37 and 36 days, respectively.

This academic advancement proves especially significant when viewed through the lens of urban charter performance. These schools provide 29 more days of reading and 28 more days of math learning annually. These are not abstract statistics—they represent real children, real families, and real communities gaining access to educational excellence that has been historically denied.

This is not merely academic progress; it represents expanded possibilities for generational transformation. For those who like to talk about social justice, this is what it looks like in education.

Critics may argue against using increased "days" as a metric for methodological reasons, but they can't argue against the increased learning charters offer our students, however you choose to slice it.

More than test scores

The significance of MSA transcends mere quantitative measures. Its commitment to advanced mathematics, early algebra exposure, and hands-on STEM education has created pathways to academic excellence that traditional district schools have often failed to provide for Black and brown students.

This accessibility is crucial because conventional public schools have historically offered one educational experience for affluent white communities and another for everyone else. While the "progressive" kings and queens of educational hoarding critique charter schools from comfortable positions of privilege, schools like MSA help break this pattern by providing high-quality education regardless of race, disability status, or income.

MSA's expansion from serving fewer than 200 students to becoming the state's top high school and now growing to serve 1,500 represents institutional growth and fulfilling a vision of Black educational self-determination. When given genuine autonomy and held to rigorous standards of excellence, our educators can create transformative learning environments that serve all students with distinction.

Of course, significant challenges remain. The sector still struggles to fully serve students with disabilities, who lose about 13 days in reading and 14 in math compared to their conventional public school peers. Virtual learning environments have shown inferior results. That said, the charter school's approach to data like that is to innovate and drive improvement, thwarting the call for us to abandon a model that works for many historically underserved students.

The debate is in rough shape. Too many commentators have lost the zeal for trial, error, and problem-solving. Educational proposals that sound more homeopathic than scientific abound. The heroes of standards, assessment, and outcome-based education have yielded to the Thanos snap.

Remember that the goal isn't to defend any particular system but to create more high-quality options for communities that have been systematically denied educational self-determination. While think tank privatizers mount a war against public education and student achievement, public school supporters had better get true to their innovation Jesus. Just as they did in the early 90s when they conceived of charters, they had better offer something new and better to the families they want to keep.

Our goal shouldn't be to choose sides in an ideological debate. It should be to recognize and support what works for our children, families, and communities. MSA and schools like it represent critical vehicles for families and students to excel beyond expectations—a right and necessity that we cannot afford to compromise.

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Thanks to my friend Joe Nathan for always calling our attention to schools like MSA.