The growth of the charter school movement, particularly within the United States, has spurred opportunity for schools and educators looking for nonconventional means in addressing educational challenges.

Within the United States,

Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The “charter” establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school’s mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. The length of time for which charters are granted varies, but most are granted for 3-5 years. At the end of the term, the entity granting the charter may renew the school’s contract. Charter schools are accountable to their sponsor– usually a state or local school board– to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract. The basic concept of charter schools is that they exercise increased autonomy in return for this accountability. They are accountable for both academic results and fiscal practices to several groups: the sponsor that grants them, the parents who choose them, and the public that funds them.⁴⁰

Since the start of the first charter school in 1992, 3,000 charter schools have opened in forty states.  Many of these schools have opened in response to unmet community, student, and educational needs.  However results on the ability of charter schools to improve educational performance among its students is mixed.  A national study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University found that “17 percent of charter schools provide superior education opportunities for their students. . . nearly half show results no different from local public school options, and 37 percent deliver learning results that are significantly worse.”⁴¹ 

For a copy of the study from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, go to: http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/MULTIPLE_CHOICE_CREDO.pdf

Controversy over Charter Schools

A recent study conducted by the Massachusetts Teachers Association found that there are higher attrition rates for students in charter schools. The study suggests that charter schools may be trying to push out students that may jeopardize a school’s performance record.  Released in September 2009, the study looked at five charter schools within the Boston area and found that approximately 1 out of 2 charter school freshman will not make it to their senior year. Although the study does not follow these students after leaving, state data indicates that students do enroll in school elsewhere rather than drop out altogether.⁴²  

However some argue that charter schools are not pushing students out, but simply providing a more rigorous curriculum than traditional public schools.  Thabiti Brown, principal at one of the schools in the study responded “we are not just handing out diplomas. . . Unfortunately we have students who leave because they feel our academic standards are too high.”⁴³ 

Unlike K-12 institutions, higher education tends to have more freedom regarding global curriculum or course development and does not often face the same types of controversies.  On the contrary, colleges and universities have the opportunity to provide an atmosphere ripe for global education and the creation of a 21st century workforce. Rather, many of the challenges facing non-profit higher education institutions today is the emerging competition from the expanding for-profit education market.

40  http://www.uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/o/index.htm

41  Center for Research on Education Outcomes 1.

42  Vaznis 2.

43  Ibid. 1.

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