Giving Compass' Take:

• The Hechinger Report writes on Mississippi’s first rural charter school and the challenges that it faces because of history in the Deep South, as well as it's threat to the struggling traditional public schools most black children still attend.

• How can charter schools help their communities and fellow public schools? 

• Read this article on how rural charter schools can succeed.  

CLARKSDALE, Miss. — It was a rainy February morning, but Clarksdale Collegiate Principal Amanda Johnson was fired up. “You know how Ms. Johnson feels about Friday,” she told the students as she paced around the cafeteria in an “I am black history” shirt. “If you didn’t get it all done … Friday’s the day you turn it around.”

The former church youth-group multipurpose room had become a shrine to academic achievement, the stained-glass window overshadowed by bold purple banners listing the students’ future college graduation years, the school’s values and the slogan “#RUReady.” The students were just in kindergarten, first and second grade, but Johnson was projecting far into the future.

“Raise your hand if you know your stretch goal,” Johnson said — referring to students’ personal better-than-best target score on their upcoming standardized tests. “I need you to know what you’re aiming at.”

Ricky Taylor, a skinny first grader with a gap between his front teeth, raised his hand way up until it practically lifted him off the bench. “My stretch goal in math is 191,” he said. Johnson hustled over and gave Ricky a dollar.

Read the full article about charter schools in the Deep South by Danielle Dreilinger at The Hechinger Report.