My kids have attended a private school, a charter school, and a public high school.

[LWolf]

12. I would add that,

in each of those models, you will find more and less successful schools.

I am an educator. I attended mostly public schools, with a couple of private schools in the mix, in the 10 schools I attended K-12. I have taught in public schools and public "schools of choice;" not charters, but schools in the regular public school district that were not neighborhood schools, that offered alternative structure and methodology.

My experience has taught me a few things:

1. A small operation with deeply committed teachers and families will almost always outperform larger, more institutional type settings, regardless of the structure or methodology or philosophy. This is something that tptb definitely don't want to get any attention.

2. While some charter schools are worthy, the whole charter school movement is about privatizing public education, which is dangerous and destructive.

3. The same positive effects can be achieved through the regular public school system when there are fewer top-down mandates and policies, less standardization, and more flexibility at the local site level.

4. Most regular public schools would be thrilled to be given more flexibility and more autonomy to best serve their particular population of students.

5. The challenge is how to wrest the power away from the non-educators, the politicians, the deformers, and invest it in the actual stakeholders: the educators and the families they serve.