Charter lotteries: Chance, change, and geography

Later today, Chancellor Joel Klein will speak at the Harlem Success Academycharter lottery. Harlem Success, founded by former City Councilmember Eva Moskowitz, can't ever be faulted for thinking small: The draw will be held tonight at the Harlem Armory Track at 5:30 pm, a facility that can host thousands, as it did at a giant school fair and  a charter school-sponsored inauguration celebration.

Demand for charters is on the rise, especially given strong support by our mayor, chancellor, president and national education secretary. But amid all the governmental enthusiasm, there are important signposts that the charter processes may not be working as well -- or yielding the anticipated strong results -- that their promoters celebrate.

One dense report that closely analyzes New York City charter-school data shows little daylight between traditional publics and the charter schools on reading and math scores, despite a school year that's up to 40 days longer than the conventional academic calendar (abstract is here; there is a fee to read the full report). A broad-canvas analysisin the Wall Street Journal highlights some of the obstacles charters face nation-wide -- including union opposition and dozens of states that simply do not permit charters within their borders. And a hyper-local report documents a geographic dilemmathat has its thorny roots in school zoning: A child who lives in one district (which makes him charter-eligible) attends an elementary school that promotes its grads into another district (which makes him charter-ineligible). Similar tales of infuriating bureaucratic arcana and personal frustrations abound.

Charters are a signature element of school choice, promoters believe, and their continued expansion seems an imminent reality. But charters are no magic bullet for school ills -- and in many venues, they seem to show small gains, despite hundreds of extra hours of instruction and the machinations required to register.