There are 5,000 Charter Schools nationwide. The difference between the high performing schools and the rest falls on how the schools are run and how the classes are taught. Charter schools have had strong bipartisan support for more than 15 years from Presidents Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and both sides of the aisle in Congress.
Charter schools are tuition-free public schools supported by taxpayer funds. By law they must accept anyone who applies.
If too many students apply, they have to hold an admissions lottery, as seen in WAITING FOR "SUPERMAN." Under federal law, charter schools have the same obligation to provide special education services as other public schools.
Charters have more freedom to make decisions that are in the best interest of children because they operate outside of the traditional school district bureaucracy and rules.
Regardless of whether a school is a traditional public school or a charter school, all schools should be held accountable for their performance and student achievement.
Public charter schools are authorized to operate for a set period of time and at the end of that time they are evaluated on multiple factors including student achievement. Based on their performance, the public charter schools are either closed down or renewed for another period of time to continue serving students.
Data shows that - overall - traditional efforts to improve public schools have not succeeded in raising student achievement.
Even in districts that have been lauded for making the most progress nationwide in raising achievement, the improvements have been incremental and still far below international standards.
High-performing charter schools have shown dramatic student academic growth, graduation rates and college matriculation, particularly for low-income and minority students.
According to a review of the highest quality charter school studies, these schools produce positive effects in elementary and middle schools that far outpace other interventions such as class-size reduction. The RAND Corporation finds that in Chicago and Florida, charter students have a significantly better chance of finishing high school in four years and going to college. And in New York City and Boston, students who attend charter schools outperform their peers in the traditional public schools.
Charter Schools also face some barriers.
In many states, there are restrictions on the number of charter schools that can open. There are other barriers to increasing school choice and public charter schools across the nation receive about $2.2 billion dollars less each year than their traditional public school counterparts.
