Charter School Research Paper

Charter schools represent the most pervasive and accepted educational policy reform to promote community driven learning. In order to understand how this learning can be promoted, however, it is important to first understand how charter school laws differ from those of public schools. America’s public school system is one that is focused on creating uniformity amongst its schools, and this is accomplished by establishing a number or rules and regulations designed to limit school autonomy and decision-making flexibility. Some of these obstacles include “intrusive elected school boards, stringent teacher certification requirements, collective bargaining agreements, and rules regarding curriculum and other facets of school activities” (JSTOR).

No other goal, including academic achievement, is mentioned more often (Bulkley). These schools recognize the fact that the current “one-size fits all” public school system is failing at providing students, especially those of poverty, the opportunity to learn and have scholastic achievement and success. They realize that simply “throwing money” at a problem of this magnitude does not promote change, and they understand that their freedom from the current bureaucratic system provides them with an opportunity to address this problem at the source, and develop specific innovative solutions that can have a direct impact on student learning and achievement. As previously discussed, charter schools can utilize this increased freedom and innovation in a variety of ways, but the most importantly, they can use it to develop a school that is designed and tailored for their specific community and group of students. There are nearly 6,000 charter schools nationwide (nscl.org), and nearly every single one of them looks completely different from the next. For instance, some schools run six days a week, some double up instruction in core subject areas like math or reading, some have mandatory after school programs focused on character development, some have incredibly harsh punishments

Nearly everyone can think back to their prior education experience and recognize the significant influence that effective teachers have had on their learning and personal growth. For most, these exceptional teachers had the ability to transform the school experience, which is often described as being “boring” or “irrelevant,” into one of interest and excitement. No matter how this transformation took place, however, we can all intuitively conclude that these special teachers both enriched our lives, and enriched our ability to learn and achieve in academic settings over the course of many years. Unsurprisingly, these intuitive conclusions are also backed by empirical research. One study, conducted by the University of Tennessee’s Value-Added and Assessment Center, found that when students are placed with three high-performing teachers in a row, beginning in the 3rd grade, “they scored on average in the 96th percentile on Tennessee’s statewide mathematics assessment at the end of 5th grade” (study). Comparatively, those students who were placed with three low-performing teachers in a row scored in only the 44th percentile on the same statewide assessment