Stay up-to-date

Join 80,000+ others receiving the Next Steps email newsletter and always be up-to-date on the latest in education news.

×
* indicates required
Topic(s) of Interest

View Topics

View Topics

X
  • Community & Philanthropy
  • Districts & Charter Schools
  • docketED
  • Education Technology
  • Featured Scholarship Implementation
  • Florida School News
  • Get Smart Fast
  • Homeschooling
  • Ideas & Innovations
  • Learning Spotlights
  • Podcast
  • Policy & Law
  • Private Schools
  • Research & Analysis
  • Scholarship Implementation
  • School Choice
  • Special Reports
Next Steps Logo Step Up for Students Logo
Topics ▼
  • Community & Philanthropy
  • Districts & Charter Schools
  • docketED
  • Education Technology
  • Featured Scholarship Implementation
  • Florida School News
  • Get Smart Fast
  • Homeschooling
  • Ideas & Innovations
  • Learning Spotlights
  • Podcast
  • Policy & Law
  • Private Schools
  • Research & Analysis
  • Scholarship Implementation
  • School Choice
  • Special Reports
  • Florida Scholarship Data
  • Special Reports
  • About

Primary Menu

  • Florida School News
  • Scholarship Implementation
  • Learning Spotlights
  • Ideas & Innovations
  • Weglot Switcher
Community & Philanthropy

Charter School 3.0: When the charter school is the neighborhood school – Chris Barbic, podcastED

08/22/12 | Ron Matus
Social Channels

Students at six high-poverty schools in Memphis returned to class this month as the focus of an education reform project that’s worthy of national attention. The schools are the first cluster in the “Achievement School District,” a Race To The Top-fueled vision headed by Chris Barbic, founder of the acclaimed YES Prep charter schools in Houston.

The district’s near-term goal – lifting schools in the bottom 5 percent statewide to the top 25 percent within five years – is as ambitious as YES Prep’s target of getting every graduate into a four-year college. Its big-picture goal is even more so: Showing the world that lessons learned from the highest-performing charter schools can turn around the lowest-performing traditional schools.

Barbic calls it Charter School 3.0.

“There’s an opportunity here to say, look, we’re not creating the charter school that’s going to be across the street from the public school and slowly bleed it to death. What we’re saying is, this is the neighborhood school,” Barbic said in the redefinED podcast below (the phone interview was conducted during the first week of school). “To me this is Charter School Version 3.0. – which is, you don’t get to pick the kids; the kids don’t get to pick you. If we really believe this works, we’re going to phase you in and you’re now the neighborhood school. And you got to work with all the kids … whatever kids show up with, you have to serve those kids.”

“If we can pull that off,” Barbic continued, “it’s going to make a huge statement that will hopefully accelerate things like this in your backyard and other places around the country.”

Schools like YES Prep and KIPP share many characteristics – high expectations, high-energy teachers, longer school days, more flexibility at the school and classroom level. And yet, despite a solid body of evidence that they’re making a big difference for low-income kids, they remain fairly rare. Barbic said that’s in part because it’s only been in the past three to five years that they’ve learned to replicate more rapidly. But now, folks inside traditional school systems are beginning to appreciate the benefits.

“You’re seeing things in Denver and things in Houston where there’s efforts being made by the district to try and take the practices of the best charters, the best charter organizations, and try to apply them in a larger system,” he said. “And I think what’s happening in New Orleans with the Recovery School District, what we’re hopefully going to be able to achieve here, is an opportunity to say, ‘Look, this works. And it works at scale, in a neighborhood school environment.’ ”

On a related note, Barbic talks about ASD’s parent outreach efforts – which are extraordinary compared to traditional public schools. When teachers showed up for school in early July, buses took them to the communities where their students live. “We hit all the apartment complexes. We banged on doors,” he said. “We met (the parents) and we invited them to come out to a community picnic that we were having later that week.”

The response: “Cautious optimism.”

“They’ve met us halfway,” Barbic said. “Now it’s on us to perform and get some results.”

Social Channels

Stay in the loop

Sign up to get updates delivered to your inbox on topics that match your interests. Enter your email to get started. Unsubscribe at any time.

Subscribe

View All Categories

  • Community & Philanthropy
  • Districts & Charter Schools
  • docketED
  • Education Technology
  • Featured
  • Featured Ideas & Innovations
  • Featured Scholarship Implementation
  • Florida School News
  • Get Smart Fast
  • Homeschooling
  • Ideas & Innovations
  • Learning Spotlights
  • Podcast
  • Policy & Law
  • Private Schools
  • Research & Analysis
  • Scholarship Implementation
  • School Choice
  • Special Reports

Avatar photo

BY Ron Matus

Ron Matus is director of Research & Special Projects at Step Up for Students and a former editor of redefinED. He joined Step Up in February 2012 after 20 years in journalism, including eight years as an education reporter with the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times).

3 Comments

Doug Tuthill August 22nd, 2012

Ron–Great interview.

I’m wondering how the teacher unions in Memphis and Nashville are responding to the Achievement School District. Am I correct in assuming these charter 3.0 schools are not operating under the district/union collective bargaining agreements?

Jeremy August 22nd, 2012

Hey Doug – great question. Tennessee actually eliminated collective bargaining a couple of years ago, so once the current contracts hit their horizon, there will not be contracts between unions and school districts in the future. In the ASD, employees are at-will. We are excited about the career pathways and compensation frameworks that we are developing that will reward highly effective teachers and encourage them to stay in the classroom while expanding their influence across our system. More to come about this on the ASD website soon.

Doug Tuthill August 22nd, 2012

Thanks Jeremy…this is very helpful. You, Chris and the rest of the team are doing amazing work–congratulations. I’m looking forward to following your progress.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Next Steps Logo

NextSteps gives a voice to parents, educators, advocates and leaders who are committed to making the future of education a reality for every student.

Social Channels

About NextStepsFlorida Scholarship Data

TOPICS

Subscribe to Newsletters

  • Community & Philanthropy
  • Districts & Charter Schools
  • docketED
  • Education Technology
  • Featured Scholarship Implementation
  • Florida School News
  • Get Smart Fast
  • Homeschooling
  • Ideas & Innovations
  • Learning Spotlights
  • Podcast
  • Policy & Law
  • Private Schools
  • Research & Analysis
  • Scholarship Implementation
  • School Choice
  • Special Reports

Copyright © 2024 NextSteps

Privacy Policy

Designed by Marketing Essentials

Next Steps and Step Up for Students logosLogo Header Menu
  • Scholarship Implementation
  • Florida School News
  • Special Reports
  • Learning Spotlights
  • Ideas & Innovations
  • Scholarship Data Snapshot
  • About
  • Weglot Switcher
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.AcceptPrivacy Policy