Charter Schools are schools of
choice. Choice to parents, students, teachers, and administrators. Parents and
students get to choose to enroll in a school that may offer a unique learning
environment, alternative learning methodologies, etc. Teachers and
administrators get more authority to make decisions than most traditional
public schools. Basically, these schools are free from many of the regulations
that apply to traditional public schools.
Charter Schools tend to be small
schools (median enrollment is 242 students compared to 539 in traditional
public schools) and serve different communities with a wide variety of
curriculum and instructional practices.
Charters are granted for a
particular period of time, usually for 3-5 years, which are renewed after the
end of the term by the granting entity. A charter is a performance contract
that provides details about that school's mission, program, goals, students
served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success - a business plan so
to speak. These schools are under constant pressure to perform well, as they
are accountable to their sponsor, usually a state or local school board for
good academic results. The charter school administration must adhere to their
charter contract. In fact, these schools enjoy greater autonomy in return for
accountability. Instead of being asked to comply with various rules and
regulations, they are measured on the yardstick of academic results and
adherence to their charter.
Charter
schools have shown promising, but mixed results over the years. Though more
data is needed to get the overall picture, more or less these schools are
faring well. On one hand there are success stories where some charter schools
receive renewals of their charters because they met the goals of their charter.
On the other hand, there are schools whose charters have been revoked due to
lack of proper financial management or lack of achievement.
How Charter Schools Work
In order for a charter school to
work, you have to have a) the proper state legislation, b) the people who want
to run the charter school and c) the state's authorizing entity (usually a
board). To open a charter school, the administrators must first submit a
charter school proposal to their state's charter authorizing entity, which
varies from state to state depending on the state's charter law. For example,
in California there are three types of authorizers: the governing board of the
school districts, county boards of education, or the state board. Generally,
four types of entities authorize charter schools: the local school board, state
universities, community colleges, and the state board of education.
To better understand what a charter
school is, you need to know what lawmakers seek to do by drafting charter
school laws. In most states, they want to:
Increase opportunities for learning and provide access
to quality education for people.
Create choice for parents and students within the
public school system
Provide a system of accountability for results in
public education
Encourage innovative teaching practices
Create new professional opportunities for teachers
Encourage community and parent involvement in public
education.
The variation that can be seen in
charter schools comes from two different directions. It can be because charter
schools have unique missions and goal statement. Another reason for this
variation is that different state charter laws, which have an impact on
development of charter schools, govern different schools. The U.S. Department
of Education information states that U.S. Charter Schools "laws cover
seven basic policy and legal areas:
Charter Development: Who may propose a charter, how
charters are granted, the number of charter schools allowed, and related
issues
School Status: How the school is defined and related
governance, operations, and liability issues
Fiscal: The level and types of funding provided and the
amount of fiscal independence and autonomy
Students: How schools are to address admissions,
non-discrimination, racial/ethnic balance, discipline, and special
education
Staffing and Labor Relations: Whether the school may
act as an employer, which labor relations laws apply, and other staff
rights and privileges
Instruction: The degree of control a charter school has
over the development of its instructional goals and practices.
Accountability: whether the charter serves as a
performance-based contract, how assessment methods are selected, and
charter revocation and renewal issues."
Facts about Charter Schools
Admissions policies
The law states that all the charter
schools must conduct fair and open admissions, and recruit all segments of the
community they serve. However, the problem arises when the number of students
seeking admission is more than the number that can be admitted. In this
scenario, many charter schools use a lottery system or keep waiting lists. The
school charter will state explicitly how their registration process will go.
Some charters will give preferential enrollment to the following:
children of teachers or otherwise employees of the
school
students who have previously been enrolled at the
school
siblings
children that are considered to be at-risk academically
Enroll students so that the racial/ethnic balance
parallels the regular public schools in the area.
Where are Charter Schools?
As of April 2005, 40 states and the
District of Columbia have passed charter school laws. Of those 41, only 38
states actually have charter schools.
The states that have passed charter
school laws are: Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut,
Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York,
North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The following states have legislature
that allows for charter schools to open but they don't currently have any open:
Iowa, Tennessee, Washington, or Maryland.
The following states do not have
legislature in place that would allow charter schools to open: Alabama;
Kentucky; Maine; Montana; Nebraska; North Dakota; South Dakota; Vermont;
Washington; West Virginia.
As of 2005, about 3,400 charter
schools operate in the United States. The states with the most charter schools
are California (500), Arizona (491), Florida (258), Texas (241) and Michigan
(210). On the other end of the spectrum, both Missisippi and Wyoming only have
one charter school each. There are no charter schools in Alabama, Iowa,
Kentucky, Main, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia (Source: Center for Education
Reform) .
Demographics
One more aspect about Charter
Schools is they have similar demographic characteristics as compared to public
schools. However, there are schools in some states that serve significantly
higher percentages of minority or economically disadvantaged students than the
traditional public schools. Some school charters stipulate that their
racial/ethical break-down may not deviate from the break-downs in public
schools within the same school district. In that case, the charter school can
enroll students preferentially, so as to get the target racial/ethical
break-down.
Tuition
Charters are not allowed to charge
tuition, and they are funded according to enrollment. States such as Alaska,
Colorado, Minnesota, and New Jersey, receive less than 100% of the funds
allocated to their traditional counterparts for the operation of public
schools. In other states, like California, additional funds or loans are made
available to them. In most states, charters do not receive capital funds for
facilities. They are entitled to federal categorical funding for which their
students are eligible, such as Title I and Special Education monies. Federal
legislation provides grants to help charters with start-up costs.
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Charter Schools
Here we will take the views of
proponents and opponents of Charter Schools. Whether these positions affect you
as an advantage or disadvantage depends on your own situation.
Advantages
In a word: Choice. Students and
parents get numerous education options from these schools. Charter school
supporters argue that even for students who don't attend the charter schools,
their experience will benefit from the existence of charter schools as they
force traditional schools to improve their academic programs in order to
compete for a student body. Proponents believe that if managed properly,
charter schools serve as laboratories for education experimentation and
innovation. The easing of certain regulations can free teachers and
administrators to develop and implement new learning strategies. At the very
least, the pressure to perform rests on charter schools as the increased
accountability for charter schools means that they have to perform well or face
closure. This extra incentive certainly impacts the teaching environment at
Charter Schools.
Disadvantages
Opponents find fault in the fact
that charter schools operate as a business in addition to a learning
institution. According to critics, charter schools are subject to market
forces, and can be forced by these forces to close and deprive students of a
continuous education. Teachers' unions are particularly against the charter
school movement. Sometimes charter schools segregate students along the racial
and class lines; they may also fail to adequately serve students with
disabilities or limited English proficiency.
School Visit: Things to Look For and
Questions to Ask
If you are considering enrolling
your child into a charter school, you need to consider some high level points
before you even visit the school. For example,
Where is it located? Is the distance feasible for your
family?
How long into its charter is it?
Has it shown academic progress?
What teaching methodology does it embrace?
How are students enrolled?
If you decide that a charter school
might be feasible for your family, plan a visit to the school campus. For your visit
make sure that you get to meet the principal and a few teachers. Finally when
you are in school, ask questions and observe the environment. Some of the
important points that a school should answer are:
its educational philosophy or mission,
its approach towards student discipline and safety,
how it encourages and monitors students' progress,
library resources,
use of technology to support teaching and learning,
school choir, band or orchestra, extracurricular
opportunities,
busing facility for the students,
school's policy to support students with academic,
social or emotional difficulties,
strategies used to teach students who are not fluent in
English,
professional development opportunities for teachers,
academic progress compared to their charter
requirements
To get complete knowledge about the
school, you should observe details like:
Do teachers seem enthusiastic and knowledgeable, asking
questions to keep the interest of the students and keep them engaged?
Does the principal seem confident and interested in
interacting with students, teachers and parents?
How do students behave in the school campus?
How well are the facilities maintained?
Apart from these general questions
there are some charter school specific questions also. So, do not forget to ask
following questions:
Why was this school created?
Is this the permanent location or facility for the
school? If not, will the school be moving to another location in the near
future?
Does the school have a specific focus?
Who is the charter holder, or the group that created
the school?
How does the school select its teachers? Are the
teachers certificated?
Conclusion
Charter schools are public schools
of choice, chosen by teachers and students. They have an advantage of enjoying
freedom from many regulations that apply to traditional public schools.
Generally, these schools give more authority to teachers and students to make
decisions. Instead of being accountable for compliance with rules and regulations,
they are accountable for academic results and for upholding their charter.
This freedom has given Charter
Schools certain advantages. They have independence to try new forms of
teaching, experiment and find the best way to reach their students; they avoid
a myriad of challenging government regulations and the interference of state
officials etc. However, there are some disadvantages too owing to this freedom.
Charter schools treat education as a product; they may not help all students as
admission requirements, transportation costs, and limited information can
prevent disadvantaged students from attending a charter school.
If you are interested in attending a
charter school, remember, you have the choice to do so. Your future of
attending a charter school rests solely in your hands. Do your research and if
you decide you want to try it, get your children enrolled.
To get information on the Charter
schools one can go through National Charter School Directory published by the
Center for Education Reform. The directory provides contact information and
profiles of charter schools in operation nationwide. Besides, it gives
information on schools such as arts-based, core knowledge and Montessori
schools.
Resources
Much of the information and
statistics from this article was found on sites on line that focus on Charter
Schools. The following sites provided valuable resources to this article:
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