Dive Brief:
- Education experts from both sides of the debate squared off at Northwestern University in Illinois this week: Policy manager at the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and the president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
- The public conversation "examined the merits and effectiveness of charter schools in improving the quality of education for students," the Daily Northwestern reported.
- The university debate series on education policy will likely continue pairing speakers will opposing viewpoints in future events to facilitate more "substantive" conversations.
Dive Insight:
The debate was hosted by Educate Discuss Unite, a campus student group focused on education policy. Due to the format of the discussion, the Daily Northwestern reported, the speakers were able to bypass politics and get to the heart of the matter: do charters provide students with a better education, or are popular charter systems failing students?
Both sides have valid points. Yet because accountability and transparency are ongoing concerns for charters, the idea that "they are held to a higher standard of accountability than traditional public schools," which was a point presented by Pam Witmer, the policy manager at the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, continues to be debated. On the flip side, Dan Montgomery, the president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, said that the discussion was based on the idea that "our schools are failing," which he claimed wasn't true. Yet there are a number of schools, especially in low-income areas, that disserve students.