As you know Apples to Apples directly addresses the creaming issues

We can get into whether That’s true or not, but we have a small set of charters Rosetta Stone V3 that I think are doing an extraordinary job of serving only students who have kicked out of traditional public schools the opposite of skimming or creaming. We have a few of those; I don’t think we have enough. Who amongst all the players in the room there today are going to step up and help those students who, by definition, are not being creamed, but whose needs were not being met in traditional settings? I think, if you can come up together with a game plan to start to hit those three populations ELLs, students with special needs, students who have been kicked out of or expelled from traditional schools and say youre committed to serving those and serving more of them each year, and create schools where That’s their mission and That’s their focus, I think that would absolutely move this conversation to a different level.Secondly, Im learning a lot here in Washington. Ive been here 18 months, but I will tell you quite frankly and I don’t think Im telling you anything you don’t know but far too many of the representatives of the children you serve see you as part of the problem, not as part of the solution. I think building stronger relationships with CBC, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, building better relationships with the leaders of the civil rights organizations there’s not a widespread understanding or acknowledgment of the difference that charters can and are making in the lives of the most underserved children around the country. Building those relationships at the state, and at the national, level, are hugely, hugely important in getting folks to come out and visit schools and dispel myths. I cant overstate how important that relationships building will be for you.Third, I thought Caroline Hoxbys study, the randomized control study looking at the students in New York who were entered in the lottery some got in, some didn’t was an absolute breakthrough. As you know Apples to Apples directly addresses the creaming issues, the skimming that only more motivated parents are sending their children to charters, and That’s why charters get better results. What I would urge you, for Rosetta Stone Spain Spanish all of you that have long waiting lists and again, it demonstrates the great work youre doing but where you have long waiting lists, where you have lotteries where some students are getting in and some arent, I would actively encourage you to get your local researchers to do longitudinal studies of students who get into your schools who apply and students who don’t. There’s obviously an apples to apples comparison that will shine a spotlight on the real impact that great charter schools are having. I think having many more of those studies, looking at a whole host of issues going forward around the country, will absolutely change the debate.The final thing Ill say Im going to be a little bit tough on this, because I challenged you at your convention I challenge the charter community to be more vocal and to step out on charter schools that weren’t succeeding, bad charter schools. Quite frankly, Ive felt a lack of courage around that this past year, and I think the damage that That’s doing to all of you in the charter brand around the country is unfortunately huge. As we look to shut down and turn around the 5,000 lowest performing schools around the country, about 200 of those happen to be charter schools, and that to me is absolutely unacceptable. All of you are in the room because youre a part of the charter school movement, youre part of the charter school franchise. Bad charter schools taint all of your reputations and allow your opponents, your opposition, to use those examples. There has not been, that Im aware maybe Im missing something courageous leadership from the charter school movement itself to step up and say here are criteria below which these schools should cease to exist. If you were much more proactive in that area, not that you have the ability to close them down, but you should not be tolerating in your family academic failure.I think you need to Rosetta Stone Software do the same around authorizers, where you have states or districts that are much too lenient in who they approve and much too lenient in who they allow to continue to operate. I think you need to have a list of good authorizers and bad authorizers and very clear criteria about what it takes. At the end of the day, the movement cant be to create more charter schools; the movement has got to be to create more great schools. Unfortunately, we have far too many mediocre charters, and we have far too many charter schools that are absolutely low performing. Your best are world-class again, your best give me extraordinary reason for hope for public education in this country but this movement has to do a much better job of policing itself, and again, the political costs that the charter school movement is paying for poor performance may be much higher than you realize. The silence, the lack of courage, the lack of leadership, on both individual schools and on authorizers that are allowing these things to continue, I think does this movement a great disservice. I would strongly, strongly urge this organization to step into that void with courage and leadership and let the country know what you stand for Again, for those schools that are doing an amazing job of closing achievement gaps and bringing hope to communities that havent had quality educational opportunities, sometimes for decades, I thank you so much for that hard work and commitment.