Why good news in education is not deemed newsworthy

Florida

This is what you didn’t read in the Florida media: A new report by the Florida Department of Education shows that students in most every demographic category are doing better in charter schools than traditional public schools.

This is what you didn’t read in the Florida media:

A new report by the Florida Department of Education shows that students in most every demographic category are doing better in charter schools than traditional public schools.

The analysis was based on more than 3 million FCAT scores and end-of-year algebra exams. Also in the report are numbers showing 74 percent of charter schools earned an A or B in the last grading cycle.

Here is a link to the report:

Given the growth of charter schools and the impact they are having on public education, you’d think a few stories might be in order.

We get all the bad news about charters – the ones that screw up or close down. And that should be reported.

But the vast majority of charters are contributing to the remarkable academic gains made by Florida students, which we see in this report. And that’s not reported.

This gives the public a very lopsided view about charters.

One issue is that media reporting has become more shallow in general because of budget cutbacks.

And by and large, the media is hostile to education reform. Bias rears its head in many ways. And one way is selective reporting. Interestingly enough, Education Week did report on the state study if you want to read its story HERE.

I’m not pro-charter and anti-public school. I am pro-good school.

Our older daughter had her name picked out of a hat to attend the best charter school in Orange County, and we sent her to the neighborhood school instead. Almost three years later, I can say it was a good choice.

But you see it was a choice. And the public school won the competition because it is a great school. That is what reform is all about.

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