Report Examines The World Of Right Wing Charter Schools.
At Forbes, taking a look at the Network for Public Education report on the growth in right wing charter schools.
The Network for Public Education, a pro-public education advocacy group, today released a new report. “A Sharp Right Turn” looks at how “a new breed of charter schools delivers the conservative agenda.”
In her preface to the report, NPE president and education historian Diane Ravitch places the rise of conservative charters in the context of the current wave of culture wars.
Few doubt that the religious right has decided to stake its claim on the next generation of hearts and minds with its unrelenting push for vouchers and book and curricular bans. This report exposes the lesser-known third part of the strategy—the proliferation of right-wing charter schools.
The report focuses on two particular types of charter schools; the “classical” charters, and the charters touting “back to basics” curriculum. It notes that many conservative charters offer certain signals to help “attract families with Christian nationalist beliefs.” Those signs include “red, white, and blue school colors, patriotic logos, pictures of the founding fathers, using terms such as virtue, patriotism, and even outright references to religion.”
The researchers found 273 current examples of these charters melding classical virtuous curriculum with intense patriotism “for Christian nationalist appeal.” Underlining how new this trend is, the report points out that nearly half of these schools have opened since Donald Trump’s inauguration.