Charter Schools

[Dr. Shane]

So what is the current thought about charter schools?

Charter Schools

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Charter schools are new, innovative public schools that are accountable for student results. They are designed to deliver programs tailored to educational excellence and the needs of the communities they serve.

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Charter schools are one of the fastest and most successful growing reforms in the country. The first charter school opened its doors in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1992 and now, a decade and a half later, more than 3,600 charter schools are serving over 1 million children across 40 states and the District of Columbia.

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Based on the belief that America’s public schools should meet standards of excellence and be held accountable, parents are lining up to choose these innovative public schools that are able to meet the individual needs of their children.

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Why Are Charter Schools So Popular?

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Educational quality:

The primary reason for charter schools is to make sure every child has access to a quality education. With the freedom and choice to do so, charters set higher standards and must meet them to stay in business. Most other public schools stay in business no matter how poorly they perform. Not so with charter schools. They are your ticket to higher-quality schools.

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Focus on the kids:

Perhaps most important, a charter school is set up around the needs of children, not around the needs of adults. The focus should always be on the kids, and programs should be designed to help children succeed, no matter what it takes.

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Safer, stronger communities:

Charter schools typically engage local businesses and other organizations to help provide resources and services to the school and its families. Many charter schools create a community hub, whether it is turning an inner-city ghetto into bustling and safer neighborhood or whether it is bringing families in rural America together, charter schools have a proven effect on the strength and safety of a community.

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[Planey]

"a quality education"

How do you define this? How would you measure the "quality" of the education?

"help children succeed"

In a similar vein, how do you decide when a child has achieved "success"? It seems to me that many people measure sucess almost exclusively academically, and then by comparing them to others so you can say "Look! They beat them!" Or, "Look! they got in the tenth decile!"

How else do they propose to measure "quality" and "success"?

Graeme

[Gregory Matthews]

Charter schools sometimes do well, and sometimes do not do well.

I recently a news investigation of schools in a large metropolitan area where I live. Both Charter and public schools were listed as the worst, and the best in this area. How was worst and best defined--the same for the public and charter schools. They were all held to the same standards.

[Gregory Matthews]

In a second article on charter schools, the news is reporting that in this State, charter schools across the entire State do better than public schools at the elementary level, but do worse than public schools at the High School level, and that in HS, they are significently worse in the subject of Math.

The President of the state association of charter schools has responded with the comment that the above should not be a surprise to anyone, and is expected. He explains the failure of charter schools across the entire State as due to the fact that charter schools, in his opinion, generally attract students with a low achievement potential.

[Dr. Shane]

Other measures, outside of academic, would be parental invovlement. Do the schools provide events for the parents to know each other and the teachers? The size of the school also has a role to play. Are there so many students that it is impossible to know all the parents? Does the school require parents to do voluntary work at the school like on a school paper or coach softball, etc? How does the school partener with the parents in the education of the child.

From what I have read, charter schools do a good job of approaching education from a parent-teacher partnership aspect.

Another consideration is safty. How does the school handle bullies, drug dealers and sexual harrassment?

[Dr. Shane]

This is the school I am considering sending my kids to - if they can get in.

Vanguard Academy