NYT: Parents See Charter-School Difference in Their own Children

One of the biggest arguments teachers' unions all over the country have against breaking away from guaranteed tenure and evaluating teachers based partly on their students' performance is resources.

According to a New York Times article, the overriding philosophy is that hiring more teachers so that classrooms will be smaller makes the most difference.

But the Sunday edition of the New York Times Magazine suggests otherwise, with a number of examples, including one family who has two kids in one public school and one child in a private charter school, where teachers keep their jobs based on their performance, not based on a union contract guarantee.

"'I've got one child in a charter and I have two in public schools,' says Bernice Wynn, who runs an optician's shop on Lenox Avenue with her husband, and whose daughter, Tiana is in the Harlem Success Academy [charter school]. 'There's no comparison. Tiana is in first grade and already reading chapter books and writing stories."