The Pros And Cons Of Charter Schools

When searching for current news relating to early childhood education, we quickly realized that charter schools were a common theme. As a result, we decided to focus on the article Where Charter-School Suspensions Are Concentrated written by George Joseph and published online by The Atlantic on September 16, 2016. The article starts with the story of Cyrus, a 6-year-old kindergarten boy, who attended a charter school in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. As per Cyrus’ mom, he was suspended 30 times during the school year while the school administration assures that there were only seven suspensions. According to the article, while city leaders across the country are passing laws to prevent frequent suspensions and excessive discipline, especially during early school years, charter schools continuously report a large number of suspensions. Leaders argue that suspensions increase drop-out rates which in turn direct young people into the criminal system.

Another major concern raised in the article is that most charter schools are located in areas where the majority of students are black and/or Hispanic. According to Julian Vasquez Heilig, a professor of at California State Sacramento and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

After reading the article, I do consider that the number of suspensions recorded in NYC charter schools is alarming, however, more information needs to be collected in order to reach informed conclusions. For example, the article does not address how the suspension process works in those schools, if there is a support system in place for students who get suspended, and what percentage of students who have been suspended actually end up dropping out of those schools. Until more comprehensive data is gathered, the suspensions issue alone cannot make a