Charter Schools

983 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Charter school education vs public education

In the 1980s there was much debate on school reform in the United States. The charter school model was an idea for educational reconstruction. These charter schools insured the continuing improvement of schooling (Budde, 1989). In 1991, Minnesota was the first state to pass legislation to create a charter school. In 1992, Minnesota opened the doors of the first charter school in the United States (“Resources,” 2012). Since then, Charter schools have gained wide spread acceptance across the United States.
Charter schools are independent schools that are operated under a contract or charter approved by the state. These schools are tuition free and are funded by taxpayer dollars. However, charter schools do not have to follow the laws and regulations that traditional public schools do (“Charter schools,” 2011). In charter schools, teachers are given more opportunities to be innovative in the classroom, because they have less restrictions as to what is being taught. Most charter schools have specialized programs and can emphasize particular fields of study (“Charter schools,” 2011). Charter schools are still accountable for student accomplishment (“What are”, n.d.). Each charter school has specific goals that are set prior to the schools opening; if these goals are not met, then the school can be shut down. So even though these schools do not have to abide by state and federal laws and regulations they must prove they are providing a valuable education to their students.
There are five stages in the lifecycle of a charter school; generating ideas, planning the charter, preparing for teaching under the charter, teaching, and monitoring and evaluating. In the first step of generating ideas, a group of teachers must discuss the teachi...

... middle of paper ...

...-charter-schools/

Frankenberg, Erica., & Chungmei, Lee. (2003). Charter schools and race: A lost opportunity for integrated education. Eric. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED478410

Joravsky, Ben. (2011). Stacking the odds in favor of charter schools: Charters unload problem students onto neighboring public schools - then reap the benefits. Retrieved from http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-charter-schools/Content?oid=3595045

Charter schools. (2011). Education Week. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/charter-schools/

Resources on Minnesota issues: Charter schools. (2012). Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Retrieved from http://www.leg.state.mn.us/lrl/issues/issues.aspx?issue=charter

What are public charter schools? N.d. Retrieved from http://www.publiccharters.org/About-Charter-Schools/What-are-Charter-Schools003F.aspx

Show More
Related

  • Review of Kozol's Article on Urban Public Schools

    1664 Words  | 4 Pages

    The second is the concern over segregation and the effect it has on society. Mr. Kozol provides his own socially conscious and very informative view of the issues facing the children and educators in this poverty ravaged neighborhood. Those forces controlling public schools, Kozol points out, are the same ones perpetuating inequity and suffering elsewhere; pedagogic styles and shapes may change, but the basic parameters and purposes remain the same: desensitization, selective information, predetermined "options," indoctrination. In theory, the decision should have meant the end of school segregation, but in fact its legacy has proven far more muddled. While the principle of affirmative action under the trendy code word ''diversity'' has brought unparalleled integration into higher education, the military and corporate America, the sort of local school districts that Brown supposedly addressed have rarely become meaningfully integrated. In some respects, the black poor are more hopelessly concentrated in failing urban schools than ever, cut off not only from whites but from the flourishing black middle class. Kozol describes schools run almost like factories or prisons in grim detail. According to Kozol, US Schools are quite quickly becoming functionally segregated. Kozol lists the demographics of a slew of public schools in the states, named after prominent civil rights activists, whose classrooms are upwards of 97% black and Hispanic — in some cases despite being in neighborhoods that are predominantly white. It has been over 50 years since Brown vs. Board of Education. It is sad to read about the state of things today.

    Read More

  • Charter Schools: Bigger Problem in Disguise

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the most pressing issues facing the United States today is its failing educational system. While many solutions have been proposed, the idea of charter schools has been both popular and controversial. The topic of charter schools is being debated in as many places as local school board meetings to state supreme courts. Though on the surface, charter schools seem like an exciting and promising step for the future of education in America, they are not the answer to this country’s ever-increasing educational problems. Charters will drain already scarce funding from regular public schools, and many of the supposed “positives” surrounding them are uncertain and unpredictable at best.

    Read More

  • The Death And Life Of The Great American School System By Diane Ravitch

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Ravitch Case Study

    1308 Words  | 3 Pages

    247). Ravitch contends for-profit charter schools should be banned, and if charter schools are allowed, there need to be direct lines of communication with public schools to support better educational opportunities for all. (2013, p. 247). A Gallup Poll conducted between August 9 – 12, 2012, indicated 60% of Americans believe charter schools are superior to public schools. Research shows the rigor of charter schools vary from institution to institution and state to state. In actuality, charter schools as a whole, student outcomes are equal the results of public schools (Jones, 2012,

    Read More

  • Geoffrey Canada Biography

    2142 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hamilton, P. (2009). From a cradle to college to community building: A charter School in

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Charter Schools

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Many charter schools segregate students along the racial and class lines and that they may also tend to lack services for students with disabilities or limited English proficiency, which leads to less diversity in Charter schools. Charter schools have their own school boards and are typically free to experiment with instructional and disciplinary methods, Charter schools are privately run by boards that are appointed by charter organizations rather the public which means less local accountability and

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay: Public Schools Vs. Charter Schools

    2770 Words  | 6 Pages

    Public and charter schools may look to be the same, but charter schools differ in many ways and have an interesting origin that is often overlooked. The concept of charter schools began in New York City around the late 1980s and early 1990s by a man name Albert Shanker. They were originally created to be teacher-run schools that would provide education and services to students struggling in the traditional school system (Karp, 2013). These schools had operated outside the administrative bureaucracy and the big city school board. Shanker initial concern was that these small charter schools were dividing the district by serving a different population with unequal access as well as weakening the power of teacher union in negotiation over district-wide policies and regulations (Karp, 2013). Because of this Shanker withdrew his support, but charters had continued to grow and states were ...

    Read More

  • Identity and Inner City Kids

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through programs that directly fuel desegregation in schools, our educational systems have become a melting pot of different races, languages, economic status and abilities. Programs have been in place for the past fifty years to bring student that live in school districts that lack quality educational choices, to schools that are capable of providing quality education to all who attend. Typically the trend appears to show that the schools of higher quality are located in suburban areas, leaving children who live in “black” inner-city areas to abandon the failing school systems of their neighborhoods for transportation to these suburban, “white” schools. (Angrist & Lang, 2004)

    Read More

  • Race and Social Class: Education and Criminal Justice System

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    America demands that all youth receive an education and that its educational system is free and open to all—regardless of class, race, ethnicity, age, and gender. However, the system is failing. There is still inequality in the educational system, and minorities’ experience with education is shaped by discrimination and limited access, while white people’s experience with education is shaped by privilege and access. The educational experience for minorities is still segregated and unequal. This is because the number of white children that are withdrawn from school by their parents is higher than the number of people of color enrolling. White parents are unconsciously practicing the idea of “blockbusting,” where minorities begin to fill up a school; whites transfer their children to a school that has a small or no minority population. They unconsciously feel like once their child is in a school full of minorities that school would not get the proper funding from the federal government. Bonilla-Silvia (2001) states that “[i]nner-city minority schools, in sharp contrast to white suburban schools, lack decent buildings, are over-crowded, [and] have outdated equipment…” (97). The “No Child Left Behind” Act, which holds schools accountable for the progress of their students, measures students’ performance on standardized tests. Most white children that are in suburban schools are given the opportunity to experience education in a beneficial way; they have more access to technology, better teachers, and a safe environment for learning. Hence, white students’ experience with the education system is a positive one that provides knowledge and a path to success. Also, if their standardized testing is low, the government would give the school...

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Charter Schools

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    The biggest difference between charter schools and public schools is that the charter schools have their 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 to serve minorities, such as African-Americans and Hispanics, because they want to save the nations’ culture.

    Read More

  • Desegregating The Obsolete Busing System at Rio Bueno High School

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    Here I sit, in this chronically divided school board meeting, listening to the heated debate about the busing in our troubled school district—particularly in regards to Rio Bueno High School (RBHS). Busing may seem like not such a big issue when you first hear its topic; however, it is much like a melting ice burg exposing its web of issues as its perpetual underbelly reaches the surface. As a guidance counselor here at RBHS, I can tell you that, this busing, desegregation bussing to be more specific, has been a way of integrating other races into school since the Supreme Court Decision in Brown v. Board of Education 40 years ago. Since the 1980’s, segregation levels have increased such that urban schools are now more racially imbalanced than they were prior to the Supreme Court’s 1971 Swann v. Charlotte-Meckelburg Board of Education decision, which legitimated the use of bussing to integrate city school districts with significant residential segregation. Moreover, the gap between Black and White achievement levels, which narrowed from the early 1970s until the late 1980s, has increased during the early 1990s (Douglas, 1996) So, with this evidence, it may seem that even with the implementation of the desegregation busing system, the achievement gap is still growing between races, particularly between Black and Whites and the financial situation and the performance of the schools in this district as a whole are declining.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Charter Schools

    1786 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • I Have A Dream Speech

    1478 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today, Americans may not recognize the substantial impact of integration, or at least at times, I don’t. In this way, racism and segregation are combatted. However, some people may still believe in segregation. The importance of integrating children’s education systems was, and still is, pivotal in combatting racism because in school, all children are equal regardless of personal beliefs.

    Read More

  • Chicago Public School Budget Review:FY2014

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... middle of paper ... ... 13 Feb. 2014. Pascua, Psyche "Public vs. Private vs. Charter Schools" Great School. Web.

    Read More

  • The Segregation of America's School System

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems with schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school system or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement.

    Read More

More about Charter Schools

Open Document