This morning a friend sent me an editorial "Poor Children Deserve Better," by Kevin Chavous, senior adviser to the American Federation of Children.

Mr. Chavous says efforts to turn the public school system around have not worked:

There have been countless long-term plans designed to eliminate race- and poverty-based achievement gaps. But few, if any, have worked. Instead of focusing on how to fix the system over time, we should turn our attention to how to give every child access to real educational opportunity today. 

Mr. Chavous describes various options for giving every child a real chance to attend a good school today.  One such option, he says, is a Boston Commonwealth Charter School:

Unlike efforts to turn the system around, we have a variety of options that have proved they can provide children with real opportunity. One of the success stories of Massachusetts education reform has been the commonwealth’s charter schools. 

A 2009 study conducted by a team of Harvard and MIT researchers and published by The Boston Foundation showed that Boston charter schools dramatically outperform both district and pilot schools (semi-autonomous district schools created in response to charters). It found that the academic impact from a year spent in a Boston charter is comparable to that of a year spent in one of the city’s elite exam schools and, in middle school math, equivalent to one-half of the achievement gap between black and white students. 

In our January 2011 study "An Option for Learning: An Assessment of Student Achievement in Charter Public Schools," we point out that six of the seven highest-performing public high schools in Massachusetts are Commonwealth Charters, and that seven of the ten highest-performing middle schools are Commonwealth Charters.

Commonwealth Charters get results for students.  They operate independently of local district control. They must produce positive academic results within five years, or their charters will not be renewed. Of the 75 charters granted over the last 15 years, 8 (or about 10 percent) have been revoked.  They are held accountable for student learning.  

Children urgently need real choices that work today, not more false promises from the latest top-down education fad that schools will improve some vague time in the future.  

Mr. Chavous is right.  I am glad he is bringing attention to Boston's high-performing Commonwealth Charter schools.