Interest Letter

Introduction

By definition, charter schools are publicly funded schools permitted to operate autonomously and free from many of the regulations other public schools must follow. This flexibility is awarded as part of a contract, or charter, with an authorizing agency that holds the school accountable for achieving its outlined charter goals, including supporting student achievement, within a certain period of time (usually five years). Charter schools introduce a line of thinking that is foreign to many in education. The basic premise is that, given an opportunity to choose a different school for their child, many parents will choose to leave the traditional public school in favor of a charter school that offers a unique philosophy, culture, curriculum, or organizational style better suited to meet the educational needs of their children. These choices allow parents and students to "vote with their feet," or make their voices heard by selecting schools that offer a better match for what they are seeking for their children. Many frustrated teachers, parents, and other stakeholders believe that government is not in a position to provide solutions to improve education because the traditional government structures and mandates are, they believe, a large part of the problem (Chubb & Moe, 1990). A real solution, they offer, is to reinvent the system by which we provide and run public educationÐ'--a reinvented system of choice, flexibility, and accountability that includes the creation of charter schools. Communities are invited to create new public schools with high levels of autonomy to be innovative in ways that may or may not embrace traditional educational structures. These schools are invited to take new and uncharted paths, but also are held responsible for ensuring that these paths lead to educational success for students.

History

The first charter school, City Academy, opened its doors in 1991 in Minnesota. Since that time, more than 36 states and the District of Columbia have passed charter school legislation allowing for the creation of more than 2,300 charter schools that serve more than 575,000 students in rural, urban, and suburban communities across the United States (Bulkley & Fisler, 2002). However, more than half of all charter schools are concentrated in just a few states. Arizona has the highest number of charter schools, with 468 schools serving more than 60,000 students. California runs a close second with 452 charter schools, followed by Florida (232), Texas (228), and Michigan (186). On the whole, charter schools enroll a very small percentage of the school-age population, but the interest in the charter school movement is broad and growing. The 2002Ð'-2003 school year added 393 charter schools, with schools opening for the first time in Indiana and Wyoming (Center for Educational Reform, 2002). Nearly two-thirds of all the newly created charter schools were started "to realize an alternative vision of schooling" (RPP International, 2000, p. 76). The alternative vision for each school varies widely. Generally, charter schools are started by educators, parents, or organizations. Many educators see the charter school movement as an opportunity to act on their dreams for creating a unique kind of school that allows them to do things differently in order to achieve their vision. Parents who lead the startup of charter schools often do so because of dissatisfaction with the experiences they have had with their traditional public school system. The last group, organizations, comprises nonprofit and for-profit groups that see charter schools as a means of putting their best ideas about schooling children into practice (Manno, Finn, Bierlein, & Vanourek, 1998).

The charter school experiment is also an experiment in education research and development (Manno et al., 1998). The degree to which charter schools have been able to act as research and development centers is unclear. It is difficult for many new charter schools to address the daily challenges of running a school and meeting the educational needs of the students. Therefore, sharing promising practices and lessons learned with the larger public school community can be an unrealistic expectation when the additional time, effort, and cost are considered. In addition, many charter schools have met opposition from the traditional public school district and learning community during the formation of their schools. In many of these instances, the public school district or school board was one of the most vocal opponents to the formation of a new neighborhood charter school. To come together for the sake of sharing best practices can be very difficult, though some charter schools have had success by building bridges in the community and reaching out to neighboring schools (see Illustrative Case: North Kenwood/Oakland Charter School later in this issue). While charter schools do allow additional options for parents, this advantage is a by-product of the fundamental difference between charter schools and other schools. Charter schools are about how a school is governed. Charter schools operate under a contract with an authorizing body which may be a state or local school board, a university, a specifically created body, or even a mayor.

Advantages

For those who conceived of charter schools, the goal is to improve student achievement by fostering innovation in many small research and development sites. Innovation occurs because the charter school is free from the rules and regulations that pertain to traditional public schools.

Legislators and educational policy people argue that the schools will:

Ð'* Produce innovation of high quality and variety.

Ð'* Change other schools in the district as they see results from the innovations.

Ð'* Foster student achievement that is as high, or higher, than in matched traditional public schools.

As opposed to those whose goals concern broad public policy achievements, the organizers of charter schools are motivated by the opportunity to realize an educational vision without the "red tape" involved in the traditional public school. They may want to use a particular approach to teaching and learning, perhaps multi-age education, work-oriented curriculum, or back to basics. They may also want to serve a population that is often not well served in the traditional school systemÐ'--unwed parents, under achieving students, non-English speakers, or students with special talents. Often they want to change the way the school day and/or calendar is organized, perhaps by having students meet for fewer days with