April 1997 Report Offers Insights into Charter Schools
Charter schools are a hotly debated topic in education reform. Charter Schools at the Crossroads: A Northwest Perspective, a proceedings of the Northwest Symposium for Charter School Policy, takes a look at the issues surrounding the charter schools movement as it develops in the Northwest.
The symposium, held November 7-8, 1996, and conducted by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, included educators, parent activists, and policymakers, as well as NWREL staff.
Edited by Lee Sherman Caudell of NWREL, Crossroads presents highlights of symposium discussions, including a status report on charter schools in six western states and an identification of critical issues for charter schools—accountability and evaluation, autonomy, sponsorship and appeals, choice, equity, opposition, and start-up challenges. Charter schools are a promising avenue for education reform and school choice, but they face challenges such as funding problems, union opposition, and questions about accountability. Currently, two states in the region, Alaska and Wyoming, have charter school laws and a few charter schools. Oregon does not have a charter school law but receives federal charter school funds under its alternative schools plan.
The proceedings document also contains an article, "A Review of Current Charter School Policy and Governance Issues," by Douglas J. Thomas of the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Thomas discusses how charter schools fit into the larger picture of school choice, who should sponsor charter schools, how much autonomy they should have, contracting, funding mechanisms, the role of unions, and other issues.
The paper includes a brief "Guide for Organizing and Assisting Charter Schools," which covers organizing and obtaining a charter, planning for start-up, start-up (the first year of operation), and sustaining the charter school.
Both state- and national-level research are summarized in a policy brief by Lori A. Mulholland of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, Charter Schools: The Reform and the Research, published in March 1996, as well as in an addendum updating the original work. The original policy piece discusses charter school history, states with charter laws, implementation of laws, and research results. The update contains a demographic profile of charter schools and their students, discussion of charter school development and design, and outcome-related research including systemic outcomes and student outcomes.
The proceedings concludes with a chart showing "Key Components of 'Expansive' Charter School Laws" in 10 states and an appendix listing participants and presenters at the symposium.
The subject of charter schools is also addressed in the Spring 1997 issue of Northwest Education. The magazine includes an overview of the issues surrounding charter schools and profiles of two contrasting charter schools. One is a small, family-oriented school in Fairbanks, Alaska, where children work at their own pace without using textbooks. The other, in Phoenix, Arizona, is a highly regimented, back-to-basics school. The magazine also features a review of resources on charter schools and essays on the topic by Jack Bierwirth, Superintendent of Portland Public Schools; Robert Gottstein, a member of the Alaska State Board of Education; Robert Anderson, Executive Director of the Montana School Boards Association; and Lee Ann Prielipp, Vice President of the Washington Education Association.
Over the next year, NWREL will produce additional reports on charter school policy and practice.
For a copy of Charter Schools at the Crossroads: A Northwest Perspective or Northwest Education, fill out the Document Order Form in this issue of Northwest Report
Northwest Education Magazine [http://www.nwrel.org/nwedu/spring_97/]
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