Subj : Charter school set-up board says assessments will be a focus
To   : All
From : News Person
Date : Tue Apr 09 2024 10:25 am

A former private school principal overseeing the return of charter schools
says the model will feature greater oversight on student achievement.

Charter schools were set up under the National-led government after the 2011
election, as part of an agreement with the ACT Party.

The model was abolished in 2018 by the Labour-led Government, who called it a
failed experiment, with the 11 operating charter schools then becoming state
or special character schools.

The Government has announced the formation of an establishment board for
creating the new model for charter schools, led by former principal Justine
Mahon.

Mahon said charter schools offered autonomy to those running them, but this
involved a high degree of accountability.

A commitment to choice
"It's a great responsibility to have the education of children in front of
you. So you need to be thinking of new ways in which students can benefit and
to do that you need flexibility, and the charter school model allows that."

"I am committed to choice which is very fundamental in a healthy democracy,
being involved in charter schools is part of that," she said.

The Government has indicated it wants charter schools operating next year and
Mahon said there would be a clear framework to assess them and clear
contractual obligations.

"The charter schools that we are about to launch will have to show
progression-based assessment. So we will be measuring whether their progress
is better than it would have been in any other model."

Mahon also said parents need to have choice for their children, so she
expected there would be a greater variety of schools and more students
participating this time around.

1News contacted some of the former charter schools that were now operating as
other school types in the education system.

The schools said they were considering returning to charter status but were
waiting to see the details of the policy. The school principals said the
Government needed to get the model right and one said the establishment board
needed to convince the public they could successfully implement charter
schools.

'Many schools did not meet some of their contractual performance standards'
An advisory group reporting to former Education Minister Chris Hipkins on the
performance of charter schools in 2018 said it was unclear whether the scheme
achieved its aim - improving the learning of at-risk students who were
underserved by the state education system.

"Based on the data before us," the advisory group report said, "we can see
that many schools did not meet some of their contractual performance
standards.

"The performance system and information available did not enable us to
understand whether charter schools were effective at improving education
outcomes for priority learners," the report stated.

'High levels of expense'
Victoria University of Wellington School of Education's Dr Bronwyn Wood said
last time charter schools didn't deliver a level of innovation to drive
achievement that was different than what already occurred in state schools,
despite this being the driving factor behind their creation.

"Some of them had some levels of success but almost all of them were very
small and had high levels of expense associated with them compared to public
schools," she said.

Wood said New Zealand had one of the most autonomous education systems in the
world, with Tomorrow's Schools reforms shifting responsibility for running
schools to individual boards of trustees.

She also said the sector already had a range of school types with state
schools, private schools, state integrated schools, special character
schools, different types of Maori-medium schools and Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu
- The Correspondence School.

Wood said public education was in need of financial investment and instead of
funding the reintroduction of charter schools, the Government should invest
in training for teaching literacy and fixing school buildings.

How do charter schools differ from state schools?
Both charter and state schools receive funding from the Government. But
charter schools are funded in bulk, whereas public schools are funded for set
areas.

Charter schools can follow the New Zealand curriculum or set their own,
whereas state counterparts must follow the country's curriculum.

And with staff salaries and qualification requirements, charter schools set
them. Teachers at state schools must be registered and receive set pay rates.

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