The Boston Globe reported today that Boston charter schools are significantly out performing Boston Pilot Schools. The pilot schools are the Mass Teacher Association’s (M.T.A.) version of a the state funded charter schools. The research study  published by The Boston Foundation, compared the MCAS results of  middle school students from similar backgrounds in pilot and charter schools The question is why? Some speculate that the differences is a result of organizational structure. Curriculum development  in charter schools is driven by grass root proposals rather than being mandated from above in the more traditional, hierarchical school administrators.

I think there is some truth to this. I’m a study in contradictions as I’m a member of the M.T.A. by virtual of working for UMass Boston but my daughter attends a Boston Charter school. I recently attended a parent council meeting at my daughter’s school in which the MCAS results from last year were shared with parents and the principle and teachers then presented the math curriculum changes that they made at the start of the fall because they want to improve the MCAS math scores. I was impressed at how quickly they integrated the new math curriculum into the school.  A teacher who had used the new curriculum in her previous school mentored the other teachers.  Implementing the new curriculum was clearly a collaborative effort.

It seems to me that it’s not only the grassroots adoption of curriculum but also close attention to measureable learning outcomes that’s makes charters work better.