Framework For Analysis.Charter Schools Are Independent

There are a number of ways that charter schools give parents greater individual control over their childrens’ education. No longer is a child bound to attend a particular school based on the geographical location of his or her home. Parents have the freedom to select a charter school that they feel would best suit the needs of their children1. Parents also have a greater say in the affairs of charter schools compared to public schools. In many instances, parents serve on the “board of education” governing the charter school, a board whose context is determined by a school’s charter and not state law. This contrasts with the traditional public school board that is limited to seven members elected from the community-at-large, regardless of whether board members have children in school. Moreover, a charter school board is entirely occupied with the operations of just one school instead of an entire district. Charter school supporters argue that this leads to less bureaucracy and greater efficiency in creating school policy that ultimately benefits students.

At the foundation of the American public school system is the belief that every child deserves a quality education. To this end, the public school system in America has undergone many reforms. One of which has been charter schools. Charter schools are independent public schools of choice working under the auspices of a charter and not governed by the board of education. The charter can be written by parents, teachers, school administrators, community leaders, educational businesses, etc. It determines the school’s guiding principles, management and accountability systems. The state approves the charter and provides funding for the school. Families choose these schools for their children. (“Resistance Hinders Success,” 2004)

The author's main point in this article was focusing on the problems of standardized testing in the school system. Ronald Roach states how in the past decade since the no child left behind program was established that there was no sufficient gains in the overall student math and reading scores. The author then goes on to explain how the Obama administration has been criticized over the issues of no child left behind program and how they are not effectively improving the program.

To understand the state of charter schools today, it is important to know how a charter school was envisioned to be. Tell explains that charter schools, by nature, should be more accurately described as “contract” schools. These schools are contractually obligated to serve the interest of the general public by providing education opportunities using the funds provided from taxes. Traditionally, charter schools are defined as “tuition-free, publicly funded, performance-based, non-sectarian, public schools of choice open to all.”[1] These schools are considered autonomous because they are exempt from most, if not all, local and state rules and regulations regarding education. The reduction of applicable laws pertaining to these schools are supposed to liberate them from the supposedly strict regulations that bog down the education system that prevent teachers from what they were actually hired to do: to teach. Although novel in concept, this idea has been difficult to implement in reality.

Shober, Manna, & Witte (2006), examines how state policy makers incorporated flexibility and accountability into state charter school laws supplementing a particular database with others measures to answer two specific questions. (1) What factors influence the degree of flexibility and accountability in state charter schools laws? And (2) how does the content of state charter schools laws, and the different values those laws embrace, affect the formation of charter schools in the United States? In state charter school laws, it is shown that state political and contextual factors help account for the degree of flexibility, but not accountability. Therefore, it was suggested that an increase in changes in charter laws show favor reducing accountability

Charter schools are unique public schools that are allowed the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement (what is a charter school 2017). Because they are public schools, they are open to all children; do not charge tuition; and do not have special entrance requirements. The core of the charter school model is the belief that public schools should be held accountable for student learning (what is a charter school 2017). In exchange for this accountability, school leaders should be given freedom to do whatever it takes to help students achieve and should share what works with the broader public school system so that all students benefit (what is a charter school

An audit, administered as a result of the fiscal year 2013 Office of the District of Columbia Auditor (ODCA) annual risk assessment, highlighted several occurrences where the PCSB’s oversight of charter schools was incomplete. The PCSB requires “all DC public charter schools to conduct and submit a financial audit package on an annual basis” (Public Charter School Audited Financial Statements, 1). According to School

Charter schools have become a rival for public schools. Charters schools are public schools by option; therefore parents must initiate the interest in the school thus enrolling their children into the program. On the other hand, public schools are open to any student and do not require a waitlist or lottery system to be enrolled. It is difficult to define the “best education” because parents seek different things when researching school options for their child. The purpose of education is to develop skills in individuals that will give them a foundation for a lifelong curiosity to create a program that will benefit each person individually. Lyndon Johnson once said, “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.” Support from the State of Texas is essential for the growth of education and emphasize the importance of receiving a strong foundation on education but can be limited by the funding. Although charter and public schools in Texas strive to provide the best education for students with the funding given, charter schools have an advantage on innovation but pubic school offer open enrollment.

While the sentiment behind venture philanthropy is morally and ethically sound, the growing degree of power that philanthropists’ posses is largely unregulated and un-scrutinized, which calls for a reformation of the venture philanthropy sector.

In summary, the third article by Dr. Brooke A. Burks, Dr. Tara L.R. Beziat, Sheeree Danley, Kashara Davis, Holly Lowery, and Jessics Lucas (2015) titled “Adapting to Change: Teacher Perceptions of Implementing the Common Core State Standards”, argues that teachers are not getting the proper training necessary to teach the CCSS. Burks et. al did a research study that looked at teacher’s perspectives on their training for the CCSS. In the beginning, Burks et. al discuss the educational change in implementation of the standards into American classrooms. They disclose that the quality of public education is important, but that teachers are not given any input into the changes made to the standards. This causes worry within teachers that the CCSS

In chapter 11 of the textbook titled “How are schools governed, influenced, and financed?” there was a section called school spending and could be found on page 354. The section talks about how much is spent by parents when enrolling a child into school, the average from 2013-2014 was just over 11k a year. There are two figures that are incorporated into the section, one shows how the average has changed over the last ten years and the other is the average spent by each state to educate one child. Each school/state has their own way of funding and to see what it is from school to school is interesting.

The reading will focus on the overall educational program success of 36 charter middle schools across 15 states. There will be at least three international standards incorporated with the reading to shed light on the effectiveness and non-effectiveness of the charters school education programs. The charter school lottery winners and lottery losers will be statically measured. The standards that will be focused on are International Standard Organization (ISO) 9001:2008, Six Sigma, and LEAN (LEAN Enterprise Institute). The reading will compare the purpose, values, application, relative functionality, and implication of each Total Quality Management (TQM) model.

Likewise, accolades given to such schools have created a fog or cloud effect to cause a distraction to mask the truth. Various polls and research indicate that though charter schools are held up to uphold higher educational standards, they seem to continuously fall short comparable to their nemesis, public schools. Reports based on each state statistically show that charter schools are closing in record numbers. Some charter schools do not even make it complete a whole academic year. Mismanagement of funds is the culprit to these charter schools closing. Once again, this may be another indication that could plausibly prove the point that the driving forces to operate such school may be financially driven and not the academic in itself. There is a notion that charter schools can “buy” their way into academic success. There is no guarantee that this has not or will not transpire. However, Hollywood dramatization of how affluent and prestigious private schools have the means to override or make officials “blind to certain things” may be the precursor for what charter schools are modeled after. In conclusion, I would like to reiterate the fact charter schools were originally designed to provide a better education for underprivileged students of lower income areas. These are the same schools that vowed to provide an exceptional education to those most in need. To have them be academically

“Our educational goal [is] the production of caring, competent, loving, lovable people” . The students found in the schools across the United State are the future of America. They are the doctors, teachers, business people, lawyers and many other roles, that will be out in the workforce in the years to come. What they learn in school will impact them immensely; it is the responsibility of a teacher to give students the best education in order to ensure the common good of the future. It is essential for students to not only learn content matter, but also the skills to enable them to participate in a democracy. Due to standardized testing, the emphasis of education has become on score and rankings rather than learning. A standardized test does not look at the whole student, the scores provided are on a very narrow aspect of education. In the classroom, there are countless ways for teachers to assess the student as a whole person not as just a score. Standardized tests scores should not be the sole criteria for determining a student’s academic achievement.

Charter schools provide choices, making it an attractive factor for parents. Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools give parents more choices in what they want. In states with charter laws, students have the option to attend school where ever they deemed fit for them, there is no district zone restrictions to follow by, as long as they are accepted by the administration of the school. Which means a student is not stuck in a district zone school where the school is only subpar to schools elsewhere. They allow students from any district a chance to enroll, but not everyone gets in because of the limited amount of seats each school has and they cannot possibly accept everyone. Although not everyone is accepted, but those that