Here is the latest narrative being pushed in an attempt to stem the exodus from public schools into charter schools: “White parents in North Carolina are using charter schools to secede from the education system.”

Got that? Choosing the best educational option for your child is ‘seceding’ from the “education system.”

The Duke University report discussed in the above article wants you to know that if you’re white and put your kid in a charter school, you’re adding to segregation; Moreover, you’re doing it on purpose. The subtext here is that by choosing a charter school, these parents are racists.

The choice to move kids to a charter school couldn’t possibly have anything to do with parents being fed up with the failing public school system, increasing data collection, high stakes tests or Common Core.

Nah, it’s about race and segregation. It’s also about protectionism.

One would like to think at Duke these ‘researchers’ would know that correlation doesn’t imply causation.

Homeschooling in North Carolina is exploding, are those parents engaging in segregation too?

After reviewing it myself, it would appear that those involved in this report did a lot of assuming, inference making and editorialized their results.

It is worth mentioning none of these three actually have an education degree or background, they are all economic and public policy wonks.

Clodfelter is a “Z. Smith Reynolds Professor”.  (Helen F. Ladd, Charles T. Clotfelter, John B. Holbein)

This Duke report goes beyond the pale and is an example of Shutuppery and narrative driving. This ‘report’ doesn’t stand up to scrutiny and the push back has begun.

President Darrell Allison, who is President of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, hit back. WatchDog.org reported:

“The fact is that public charter schools enroll a greater percentage of black students than traditional schools,” said Allison.

“During the 2013-14 academic year, black students comprised 30 percent of public charter school enrollment and 26 percent of the traditional public school student population,” he said.

He added that the liberalization of rules surrounding charter schools has caused a huge increase in enrollment for children across all race groups, a point overlooked by the study’s authors.

“Since the cap was lifted on public charter schools in our state in 2011, we have seen a 20 percent increase in black students enrolled in public charter schools along with a 21 percent increase in white students enrolled – a mere 1 percent difference,” Allison stated on his organization’s website.

Coincidentally, this ‘report’ comes out a related lawsuit is being heard by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

This suit was filed by a collection of groups in North Carolina that are suing to block minority and low-income students from obtaining ‘Opportunity Scholarships’.

These scholarships would allow them to attend the school of their choice, including charter schools and are strongly favored by the public.  This suit is arguably a significant variable ignored in the Duke report.

Oh and by the way…

The top HS in Wake County on the Washington Post’s most challenging schools list is Raleigh Charter High School http://t.co/SC3VwdSU38

— Keung Hui (@nckhui) April 24, 2015

Related Reading

#AmplifyChoice: Dr. Terry Stoops On NC Charter Schools