Seattle Schools Community Forum

This morning the Times has an article about Superintendent Nyland.  Here's what I said in the Times' comment section:

Great National Education Policy Center (NEPC) paper called "Wait, wait. Don't Mislead Me!  Nine Reasons to be skeptical about charter waitlist numbers. " So the next time you hear some huge number of kids are on charter school waitlists, remember these. In brief: Students apply to multiple charter schools Waitlist numbers cannot be confirmed Waitlist record-keeping is slipshot and unreliable Many charter applications are for non-admissible greades It's likely that most charters aren't very oversubscribed NAPCS's (National Association of Public Charter Schools)Methods aren't available for independent verification NAPCS numbers are inexplicably precise What are we comparing charter waitlist numbers to? charter waitlists can be trimmed by requiring "backfill" From the Seattle Education blog , a good explanation of the bills in Congress to give a big boost to charters (seemingly in the name of accountability). To note, over in Spo...