Pedro Noguera Levinson's Case Study

In Meira Levinson’s case study, she asks if the reader would approve a legislation that intended to limit charter school expansion based on the attrition rates of that charter school. Both Pedro Noguera and Patricia Jehlen responded to Levinson’s case study. Noguera and Jehlen shared many views about this legislation such as the need for equity in the American education system, the role of charter schools as innovators and laboratories, and the effect charter schools have had on the students and the public schools near them. However, when drawing their final conclusions about charter schools and this legislation, they reach different solutions.

The first, and possibly most pressing issue that Jehlen and Noguera found in the current charter school system was the lack of equity. Jehlen reminds us that many times, a school is judged on its students’ ability to do well on standardized

Although they would both support the legislation to only allow certain charter schools to expand based on their attrition rates, they have different reasons behind their support. Jehlen supports this legislation because she wants to prevent charter schools from expanding in general; but in reality, Jehlen wants to get rid of charter schools and put the funding back into the public school system. Noguera supports this legislation but believes that there needs to be more to it. I think that if Noguera and Jehlen met together to discuss charter schools, there would be much agreement about the path that should be taken. I also believe that Noguera might find some comfort in knowing that not everyone who originally voted for charter school supports the direction they went in. According to Noguera, “the role of public policy should be to acknowledge, and compensate for, the inequity created by these practices.” That is something I believe Jehlen would agree with