Analysis Of The Competitiveness Of Charter Schools In Philadelphia

In the article, it tells how there are many schools closing, combining or relocating within the next few years in Philadelphia. Reasons why these schools may be closing are the lack of funding, overcrowding, lack of resources, increased competitiveness in charter schools and students being forgotten. Philadelphia is known as having one of the worst school districts in the country. A good portion of this statistic is due to funding. Funding is something that is at the base of all problems and all solutions. For these Philadelphia schools discussed in this article, funding is an issue. Overbrook, Gompers and Cassidy are planning to add a seventh grade to their school next year. However, they are just going to throw students in the building …show more content…
In order for a child to be able to attend a charter school, they must put their name in a lottery. From there, students are randomly chosen to attend. Therefore, some families may be split up and siblings may not be able to attend the same school. Students who have previously attended Cooke, Huey and Wister never had the issue of not being able to attend the specific school. Now, these students are competing for spaces in Renaissance Academy Charter School. By having these public schools feed into a charter school, parents are fighting for their child’s education. Schools are becoming more competitive and some students may not be able to get into the specific school. If they are being broken up, whether it be by friend groups or family, those students are at a greater risk. According to Steinberg, “Students in urban schools report less of a sense of ‘belonging’ to their school, which leads to disengagement and poor achievement” (Steinberg 193). If they are being shuffled around then the students may loose motivation and not care as much about their education as they should