Charter Schools

1
Charter Schools

• An Objective Overview

2
Introduction

• The purpose of this presentation is to examine
  what a charter school is and explore some
  positive and negative aspects of this movement.
• Developed by Stacey Schmidt

3
Table of Contents

• I. Charter History
• II. Charter Facts
• III. What is the Charter Idea?
• IV. What is a Charter School?
• V. Arguments for Charter Schools
• VI. Arguments against Charter Schools

4
Charter History

• The charter school concept dates back to the
  1970s.
• New England educator Ray Budde developed the
  idea, stating that teachers should be given a
  charter by their local school boards to explore
  new approaches.

5
Charter History

• In the late 1980s, Philadelphia started many
  schools within a school.
• Minnesota refined the concept and was the first
  state to pass a Charter School Law in 1991.

6
Charter Facts

• Charters are usually granted for any term not
  exceeding five school years and usually may be
  renewed for terms not exceeding five years.
• Charter school legislation varies from state to
  state. Each state makes their own regulations.
• Charters may be granted to schools by local
  school boards, the state school board,
  universities, and the state commissioner of
  education.

7
Charter Facts

• Some states dictate that only a teacher-led group
  may apply for a charter.
• Other states allow any public body, private
  person, parent group, business leader, or
  independent organization to apply for a charter.

8
Charter Facts

• The U.S. Department of Educations first-year
  report on charter schools found that charters
  were proposed to
• 1. Realize a vision of better teaching and
  learning
• 2. Follow a specific instructional
  philosophy
• 3. Have greater autonomy, flexibility, and
  relief from governmental regulations
• 4. Serve a special population

9
Why start a Charter School?
Taken from The State of Charter Schools
Third-Year Report May 1999
10
Charter Facts

• Parents cite the following reasons for sending
  their children to charter schools, according to a
  U.S. Department of Education report
• 1. Small school and class sizes
• 2. Higher standards
• 3. Educational philosophy
• 4. Safety
• 5. The failure of the traditional public
  schools to meet the needs of their children

11
Charter Facts

• As of January 2000, 36 states and the District of
  Columbia have Charter Laws and there are 1,484
  charter schools in existence
• States with Charter Legislation, by Year of
  Enactment

Taken from The State of Charter Schools
Third-Year Report May 1999
12
Charter Facts

• There is a high demand for charter schools 7 of
  10 charter schools report that they have a
  waiting list.
• 59 charter schools which is about four percent
  of all charter schools have closed since the
  first charter school opened in 1992.

13
Charter Schools in the U.S.
Taken from The State of Charter Schools
Third-Year Report May 1999
14
Charter Facts

• Charter schools account for about 250,000
  students.
• The average enrollment of all charter schools is
  about 137 students per school traditional public
  schools average about 475 students.
• White students made up about 52 percent of
  charter school enrollment, as opposed to 58
  percent of traditional public school enrollment.

15
Ethnic Make-up of Charters
Taken from The State of Charter Schools
Third-Year Report May 1999
16
Charter Facts

• 39 percent of charter school students were
  eligible for free or reduced-price lunch,
  compared to 38 percent of students in traditional
  public schools.
• Students with disabilities made up eight percent
  of the student population in charter schools,
  compared to 11 percent of the student body in
  traditional public schools.

17
What is the Charter idea?

• New public schools can be created or existing
  ones can be converted.
• Anyone can attend a charter school.
• These schools are responsible for student
  achievement during the length of the charter.
• Charter agreements waive state rules and
  regulations in exchange for accountability and
  results.

18
What is the Charter idea?

• It allows groups such as parents, teachers,
  universities, state and local school boards, and
  city governments to create schools.
• It permits educators and families to select
  schools.
• Government funds that would be paid to the public
  school go to the charter school for each student
  .
• Title I and other special funds follow the
  student to the charter school.

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What is a Charter School?

• They provide families with school choices.
• They are public schools.
• They are not micromanaged by government
  bureaucracies.
• They are open to all.
• They are paid for by tax dollars.
• They are accountable to public authorities for
  student learning results.
• They provide freedom to experiment with
  traditional grade-level groupings.

20
Charter School Grade Divisions
Taken from The State of Charter Schools
Third-Year Report May 1999
21
Arguments for Charter Schools

• They improve student achievement.
• Charter school success will force traditional
  public schools to improve education or lose
  students.
• Charters may be revoked if it is found that the
  school violated its contract, failed to comply
  with generally accepted accounting standards of
  fiscal management, or if students who enrolled
  failed to make sufficient progress in attaining
  educational goals.

22
Arguments for Charter Schools

• In addition to being accountable to their
  chartering entity, the schools must be
  accountable to state law, which includes
  voluntary admission, nondiscriminatory practices,
  and health and safety requirements.
• Some claim that since charters may be revoked,
  charter schools work harder to meet their goals.

23
Ways Charter Schools are Accountable
Taken from The State of Charter Schools
Third-Year Report May 1999
24
Arguments for Charter Schools

• Competition does improve public schools. Charter
  schools are not allowed to select students on the
  basis of academic ability and are given the same
  per-pupil dollars as traditional public schools.
• Most charter schools had a slightly lower teacher
  to student ratio than did all public schools in
  1997-98.

25
Arguments for Charter Schools

• In a report done by the Department of Education,
  it was found that nearly nine of ten charter
  schools were monitored for accountability in
  terms of financial accounts seven of ten for
  student achievement and for student attendance
  and six of ten for compliance with regulations
  and instructional practices.

26
Arguments for Charter Schools

• Charter schools encourage innovation in teaching
  practices and teacher professional development.
• Students report higher satisfaction in their
  educational experience in Charter schools, mostly
  due to smaller class sizes.
• Charter schools create authentic site-based
  management in public schools.

27
Arguments for Charter Schools

• A Colorado study concluded, "the performance of
  charter schools, as a whole, on the Colorado
  Student Assessment Program (CSAP), was stronger
  than state averages, stronger than sponsoring
  district averages, and stronger than the average
  performance of other public schools in the same
  socioeconomic classification level."

28
Arguments against Charter Schools

• Accountability
• School boards are ambivalent about their
  responsibilities to monitor charter schools.
  Many are reluctant to become involved.

29
Arguments against Charter Schools

• Accountability
• The success of charter schools often depends
  heavily on strong, well-connected leaders.
• Some research raises serious questions about the
  claims made by charter school advocates as to the
  power of accountability, autonomy, choice, and
  competition to improve the efficiency and quality
  of charter schools over public schools.

30
Arguments against Charter Schools

• For-Profit Charter Schools
• They receive the same money per child as
  non-charter schools, yet they make a profit.
• In order to make a profit, they must eliminate
  some of their expenses.

31
Arguments against Charter Schools

• For-Profit Charter Schools
• In order to cut expenses, they dont offer all of
  the programs that public schools offer.
• They receive money for transportation, yet some
  do not provide transportation.

32
Arguments against Charter Schools

• For-Profit Charter Schools
• Special education students often sign over their
  right to specialized services and their right to
  follow their individualized education plan.
• The special education money is kept for profit
  instead of being spent on the student.

33
Arguments against Charter Schools

• For-Profit Charter Schools
• The requirement that charter schools reflects the
  racial/ethnic makeup of their districts has not
  been enforced.
• Charter schools exercise considerable control
  over the type of students they serve. Thus, in
  some cases, charter schools have more choice than
  parents do.
• Charter schools vary widely in their ability to
  generate private sources of revenue.

34
Arguments against Charter Schools

• For-Profit Charter Schools
• There is often a high mobility rate of the
  students attending a charter school.
• Teacher turn-over can be higher than public
  schools.
• They have a lack of support structures outside of
  themselves.

35
Arguments against Charter Schools

• Other Points
• Not all charter schools require teachers to be
  certified.
• Not all charter schools are ethnically balanced.
• Teachers tend to have heavy work loads without
  adequate preparation time.
• Competition does not improve public schools.

36
Arguments against Charter Schools

• Other Points
• Charter schools want to assess without use of
  standardized tests however, there is a lack of
  alternative authentic assessment tools.
• Studies have found that ungraded charter schools
  have a much higher student to teacher ratio, 18.8
  students per teacher, as compared to 8.8 students
  per teacher in other public schools.

37
Arguments against Charter Schools

• Other Points
• Lots of charter schools are doing similar things,
  but few are learning from each other.
• Most charter school leaders want to be the ones
  to accomplish a ground-breaking feat, rather than
  learning from the mistakes of others and building
  on the successes of others.

38
Arguments against Charter Schools

• Other Points
• Charter schools will siphon money away from
  districts, thus destroying the public school
  system.

39
Bibliography

• The State of Charter Schools Third-Year Report.
  May 1999. http//www.ed.gov/pubs/charter3rdyear/D.
  html
• National Study of Charter Schools. May 1999.
  Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
  U.S. Department of Education. Internet Source.
• The State of Charter Schools 2000. Fourth Year
  Report. January 2000. http//www.ed.gov/pubs/cha
  rter4thyear/
• U.S. Dept. of Education National Study of
  Charter Schools. Second Year Study. August
  1998. Internet Source.
• 1998-1999 Colorado Charter Schools Evaluation
  Study Ð Executive Summary. Internet Source.
• Frequently Asked Questions Center on Reinventing
  Public Education.University of Washington.
  http//www.crpe.org/CharterSchools/csfaqs.html
• Teske, P., Schneider, M., Buckley, J., Clark, S.
  Does Charter School Competition Improve
  Traditional Public Schools? SUNY-Stony Brook.
  June 2000. Internet Source.
• Colorado Charter Schools Evaluation Study The
  Characteristics, Status and Performance Record of
  Colorado Charter Schools. Colorado Department of
  Education. January 2000. Internet Source.
• NGA Reports online. Charter Schools
  Challenging Traditions and Changing Attitudes.

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Bibliography

• Schwarz, M. (1996) How Well are Charter Schools
  Serving Urban and Minority Students? ERIC
  Clearinghouse on Urban Education. Internet
  Source.
• Nathan, J. (1998) Heat and light in the charter
  school Movement. Phi Delta Kappan. Volume 79.
  Number 7. pp. 499-505.
• Manno, B., Finn, C., Bierlein, L., Vanourek, G.
  (1998) How Charter schools are different. Phi
  Delta Kappan. Volume 79. Number 7. pp.
  488-498.
• Garn, G. (1998) The thinking behind Arizonas
  charter movement. Educational Leadership. pp.
  48-50.
• Dykgraff, C., Lewis, S. (1998) For-profit
  charter schools What the public needs to know.
  Educational Leadership. pp. 51-53
• Lathrop and Clark. (1998) Charter schools.
  Wisconsin School News. pp. 23-25.
• Schnailberg, L. (1998) Charter schools struggle
  with accountability. Education Week. Volume
  XVII. Number 39.
• Saks, J. (1998) A closer look at charters. The
  American School Board Journal. pp. 14-19.