Charters at a Crossroads
ARE CHARTER SCHOOLS THE KEY TO INNOVATION AND CHOICE WITHIN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM?
The charter schools movement stands at a critical juncture. As the movement's earliest charters come up for renewal in bellwether states such as Minnesota and Arizona, this six-year-old experiment in public school choice is poised to prove whether it can pass the real test of school reform: Does it improve student learning?
Results are at the very heart of charter schools. The charters, or contracts, that grant public funding to schools launched by grassroots groups of parents or teachers hinge on outcomes. If the school fails to produce the results it pledged to produce, the charter may be revoked. Charter schools promise the kind of direct accountability to public and parents that too often eludes government-run public schools.
Until now, the promise of charter schools has been just that: a promise. Most of the evidence of charter schools' effectiveness has been scattered and anecdotal rather than comprehensive and scientific. But as the first of the nation's 500 charter schools are faced with proving their worth or losing their contract, charter schools' friends and foes alike will be closely examining the data. A number of national studies are in the pipeline.
All along the political spectrum, the charter schools movement stirs up heated debate, evident in the ballooning body of charter schools literature and in the nation's statehouses, where charter schools legislation is being drafted coast-to-coast. Because charter schools can take any shape, advance any theory, float any approach, they offer an unprecedented opportunity for choice and diversity within the public school system. Many advocates see them as petri dishes where parents and educators can grow new and exciting educational cultures.
Perhaps the biggest shift in thinking embedded in the charter schools concept is the idea that students and their parents are "consumers" or "customers." When parents and students have the option to go elsewhere in the educational marketplace—"to vote with their feet"—schools are more likely to respond to families' needs and concerns. By stimulating competition for scarce educational dollars, advocates argue, charter schools can catalyze innovation throughout the public school system.
In this issue, we present the viewpoints of a big-city district superintendent, a teachers' union representative, a school boards association director, and a state education board member. We also offer an intimate look at the dreams (and nightmares) of several determined groups of charter founders.
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