Closing the achievement gap requires any means necessary, even segregating minority students into special schools with all white teaching staffs.

Once upon a time there was something terrible in our nation’s schools called segregation. Reader: this separation of students into racial groups was viewed as a terrible scourge. In fact ending segregation in the public schools was viewed as so essential that it became the civil rights issue of our time.

I only bring up this *awkward* little trip down memory lane because in today’s upside down world of education rephorm, something rather strange has occurred. Whereas once segregation was seen as the enemy of educational progress,  today it is upheld by achievement gaptivists as a necessary solution to closing said achievement gap. That’s because the achievement gap is the civil rights issue of our time, and must be closed by any means necessary, even segregation, the former civil rights issue of our time.

Phans of charter schools and other achievement-gap closing necessities are fond of saying that they have figured out how to “crack the code” about the best way to reach the minority kids that our union-stifled public schools and their LIFO lifer teachers have failed. What they don’t say, though, is that their secret rephormer decoder rings activate hyper-segregated schools where students who are overwhelmingly minority are taught almost exclusively by young white teachers. Allow me to represent said cracking of code with a helpful mathematical equation—let’s call it the Education Rephormula 4 Success:

X (minority urban students) + Y (young, fresh white teachers) + H (high expectations) – L (low excuses) + T (test prep) + T (test prep) + T (test prep) + G (good posture) – A (attrition) – S (suspensions) = ⇈(rising test scores) + P (phawning press coverage) + N (infinite opportunities for expansion of excellence) which = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

But enough “theory,” reader. Let’s move on to the data, shall we? It’s time now for a regular segment in which EduShyster takes publicly available charter school data and makes it available to the public. Today’s topic: student racial demographics at some of Boston’s finest charter academies of excellence and innovation.

School name                               Total student enrollment                   # of white students

Roxbury Prep Charter School               244                                                    0

Bridge Boston Charter School              74                                                      1

Smith Leadership Academy                  202                                                    1     

Edward Brooke Charter School 2         167                                                     2

Codman Academy Charter                   149                                                     3

City on a Hill Charter Public School      291                                                     4

Dorchester Collegiate Academy           110                                                     5

Edward Brook Charter School               470                                                    6

Boston Renaissance Charter               1,027                                                 12

MATCH Charter Public School              473                                                    12

Boston Preparatory Charter                  359                                                    15

Now all of these schools happen to be located in Boston where, as you no doubt know, the issue of race and education has caused some, ahem, problems in the past. Which is what makes it all the more remarkable that many of the same champions of integration 40 years ago now view increasing test scores as so important as to justify segregation.

Reader: it is an upside down rephormy world we are living in… Send comments to tips@edushyster.com.