A Unique Approach: Education in Public and Charter Schools
School choice: two words that together spell out a multitude of educational options for students today. Among them are charter schools and public schools; public schools standing the test of time and charter schools being at the forefront of a revolution in educational change. Surprisingly, these two educational institutions have more in common than one might think, but maintain their differences. Key differences between charter and public schools include approach to education, funding, level of government involvement, and enrollment practices. Despite these differences, both charter and public schools share the following features: free of charge to students, required to demonstrate adequate yearly progress on state standardized tests and status as public institutions. Charter schools are educational institutions that share common features with public schools and at the same time have key differences that make them unique.
Charter schools and public schools share a definition as public educational institutions; however, there remain key differences within this explanation. Charter schools are independent public educational institutions that have the freedom to operate within a specific educational focus, such as math and science or agriculture science. (WestEd, 2010) Within the context of this specific educational focus; charter schools tailor curriculum, assessments, program goals, and measures of achievement towards the students their charter serves. (WestEd, 2010) Unlike charter schools, public schools are educational institutions that operate under the direction of a school board along with state and federal government whose rules and laws sanction their daily ope...
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... and federal government on a per pupil enrollment basis, however do not have the luxury of levying taxes that public schools do. Finally, charter schools are independent of the geographical confines that a district imposes on public schools.
Works Cited
MN Association of Charter Schools. (2010, November 8). MN Charter School Facts & Statistics. Retrieved November 5, 2010, from MN Association of Charter Schools: http://www.mncharterschools.org/page/1/facts.jsp
MN Charter School Resource Center. (2007, August 29). What is a Charter School-Center forSchool Change. Retrieved November 8, 2010, from Minnesota Charter School Resource Center: http://www.centerforschoolchange.org/index2.php?...
WestEd. (2010, November 8). Answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved Novemeber 8, 2010, from US Charter Schools: http://www.uscharterschools.org/lpt/uscs_docs/171
Charter Schools are best known for combining traits and features of both public and private schools. Charters schools are not restricted to many of the rules and policies put on other public schools (Gale 1). For example teachers are given more free reign in charters, and they are not expected to stick to a certain curriculum. Because there is no specific criteria in place for teachers of charter schools, pay scales do not have to be followed for teachers and administrators. Also, charters are publically funded and have specialized accountability for producing certain results.
She realized that choice and accountability were not the answer, but that curriculum and instruction were more viable solutions to America’s educational dilemma. Ravitch suggests that to abandon public schools is to abandon the institution that supports our concepts of democracy and citizenship and to the promise of American life (Ravitch, 2011, p. 12-14). The idea of school choice is rooted in Milton Friedman’s essay concerning the government’s role in education. Friedman asserted that society should support and contribute to the maximum freedom of the individual or the family. He maintained that the government should provide vouchers to help support parents financially on their children’s education, which parents could use at the school of their choosing; so long as the school met set standards. Therefore, this creation of choice would stimulate competition, which Friedman believed would increase the development and improvement of nonpublic schools, as well as, create a variety of school options (Ravitch, 2011, p. 115). As a result of the choice movement, the public received three versions of school choice: voucher schools, private schools, and charter schools. Each of these schools receives public funding, but do not operate as traditional public schools, and are not managed by a government agency (Ravitch, 2011, p. 121). Charter schools became the most popular choice of this new
Arguments For: Allows individuals or groups with innovative educational ideas to put them into practice without being unduly hampered by local or state bureaucracy. These schools may have unconventional hours, experiment with curricula, specialize in certain types of teaching or design programs tailored to a particular audience or community. Charter schools can introduce the ingredient of a measure of needed competition to the public schools. They may provide for more accountability because schools that work will be rewarded and those that do not will be changed or even closed.
The first, and possibly most pressing issue that Jehlen and Noguera found in the current charter school system was the lack of equity. Jehlen reminds us that many times, a school is judged on its students’ ability to do well on standardized
One of the most hotly debated issues in the United States today is the controversial topic of education reform. Since public schools are funded almost entirely by local property taxes and money at the state level, many parents feel that they deserve a greater say in what their children learn in school. However, sometimes the opinions of parents contradict the policies at the federal level, thus causing conflict. Dissatisfaction with the public school system in their districts has led many Americas to seek other options for their children’s educations. In 1992, the first charter school opened in Minnesota, giving parents the option to send their kids to a free public school of their choice (“Charter Schools”).
United States Department of Education (1997). Overview of Charter Schools. Retrieved April 3, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/gi/overview.htm
Charter schools are public schools, but can be a better option than traditional public schools for some students. By definition, a charter school is a publicly funded and privately run school under the charter of an educational authority. (2-4) A charter school is held to a different set of standards than most traditional public schools. This can often work towards their advantage because it allows them to try new and unique methods of educating children. And the education system could use some fresh ideas.
Are charter schools the right choice to the educational needs of our children? Charter schools are tuition free public schools created and operated by parents, organizations, and community groups to fill student’s educational needs. Charter schools consider educating their students as the priority, and identify how children’s learning needs are different from each other, so they came up with different ways on educating their students such as learning in small groups, or by participating in hands on learning. Along with their unique programs such as art, math, and science, charter schools are also the stronger academic choice for students. Parents should consider charter schools for their children’s education. “Charter schools are independent public schools allowed to innovate while being held accountable for improving student achievements” (Edie, 2012, p.1). Charter schools are the best choice for a child’s education.
In a nation dominated by capitalism and free trade, steps are being taken to turn the ability to learn and other education rights into commodities that can be manipulated and controlled by companies. Charter schools are public schools funded by state money, but not unionized; they also can be in the form of a traditional brick and mortar schoolhouse or an online school (Ravitch)(Molnar)(“Preface to 'Are Charter and Magnet Schools Good Alternatives for Students?’”). According to their proponents, charter schools allow parents more sway over their child’s education (Jacoby 77). A charter school proponent Jeff Jacoby states, “Their goal: to build the kind of school that used to be commonplace in America-one providing a rigorous, traditional, fact-based
Charter schools are public schools of choice, meaning that families choose them for their children. They operate with freedom from some of the regulations that are imposed upon school districts. Charter schools are accountable for academic results and upholding the promises made in their charters.
The issue of whether charter or public schools are more beneficial for students has been an ongoing debate. The question that arise is which type provides a better education. Having gone to a charter high school myself, I got to see and experience first-hand the benefits of going to a charter school as well as realizing the issues charter schools face here in Oklahoma. These problems need to address in order to guarantee that students are getting the best education that they can get. We are facing an epidemic today with our education system and charter schools could be the solution. There may be opponents to the idea of having charter schools, but they have been wildly successful lately and are quickly expanded throughout the states. This is due to the fact that charter schools can benefit people economically, educationally, and as well as socially.
Under NCLB policy, if a public school in the state standard exams results in consecutive unqualified scores, the school will be closed soon. Although the government gives parents more choices to accept the way of education, the students just can go to school in poor communities where the environment is bad. When there are charter schools, the public schools are going to be closed, the company or person can take it with permission, the foundation all comes from the government. The biggest difference between charter schools and public schools is that the charter schools have it own operating system, foundation and teachers.(Ravitch, Reign of Error, chapter 16, p157-160) There also are some disadvantages in charter schools, first is the quality gap, due to the quality of teaching which almost depends on teachers and principals. The second one is differentiation between races and classes. Some charter schools’ mission is serve minorities, such as African-American and Hispanic, because they want to save the nations’ culture. However, this limit of communication with other communities will result in a big gap objectively. Charter schools only pay attention to the scores and do not share their strategies to collaborate with public school, because they want more students to get high scores so they can enter to famous schools more than public
Charter schools are independent public schools of choice. Finn (1996) writes that researchers find that the best charter schools have near total independence to decide what and how to teach, whom to hire and how to use their resources, hours of operation, and how best to meet students' needs. One would assume that many charter schools are enjoying the flexibility and success of operating a school of choice. However, charters are also held accountable in a way that regular public schools are not. When a charter school experiences severe troubles, it usually faces severe consequences. To date, more than 200 failed or failing charter schools have been closed on fiscal, educational, and organization...
One of the more recent policy issues that has arisen in Florida is the amount of funding that Charter school should receive from the state. There are those on the Republican side that believe that they should fund Charter schools equally to how they fund public schools. Raplh Arza, who is a Republican legislator and a lobbyist for charter schools believe that it is discriminatory if the state does not fund both tradition public school and charter schools. He said, “lawmakers shouldn’t discriminate against kids because their parents choose an alternative to traditional public schools and it would be unfair to give traditional schools more money, even though they still vastly outnumber charter schools” (Clark, 2016). On the flip side Joanne McCall,
Current efforts to change schools fall into two general categories. The first embodies decentralization of administrative power to school sites, much akin to a popular movement to move many governmental social functions such as welfare to state and regional levels. The second is to create competition among school districts for students, a key tenet of the industrialized world that purports to deliver a greater range of products and services at a price the market will bear. When parents have the option of sending their children to more than one school, the term "school choice" is often applied.