> I saw a study a while back that tried to correct for the
> selection bias, and found that charters made no difference.
Yes, but what do you say to the parents who are motivated to participate and support the effort and yet cannot find it within your normal big city school system?
There's something odd about saying that if you just correct for the bias that they then are the same; "the same" in this case means "not as good" as at a charter school. The solution is not to get rid of charter schools, but to make all schools as wanted and supported as charter schools.
Since that doesn't look to be forthcoming ...
Joanna's claim that charters are a "disaster for the teaching profession", I have to ask: it was all roses and honey before charters? Yes: the success of charters will likely dismantle the current teacher's union position; but it will also likely dismantle the bloated central administration. A pox on both of their houses: blow it up and do something new; later we can see if/when teachers in the new scenario need the kind of representation that they have today. My suspicion is that if they need representation, it'll be a different kind than what they have today.
/jordan