The History and Background of Charter Schools in the United States

The History and Background of Charter Schools in the United States

Charter Schools

The charter school movement is just one example of the management and structural reforms targeted at public education. This entry provides a general description of the nature and focus of charter schools, with specific examples drawn from existing charter facilities and state laws. It also pays special attention to the ways in which charter schools differ from traditional district schools. Areas of reform include governance and oversight; the mission, values, and curricula applied in schools; the contracting policies used in compensating and establishing appropriate work conditions for teachers; and parent participation and involvement.

Definition and Description

Generally, a charter school is a public school that contracts to operate as an educational facility for a specified length of time. Charters differ from traditional public schools in that these schools are not subject to many of the obligations or authority that school districts exercise over, or place on, district public schools. For the most part, charter schools develop their own boards responsible for overseeing the school. As with other public schools, charter schools receive public funding. However, in exchange for release from certain district expectations, charter schools take on more direct responsibility for student academic achievement. In many cases, charters also include specific lengths of time that schools have permission to operate, operational reporting requirements, funding agreements, and enrollment goals.

Nationwide, charter schools usually emphasize the three common principles of choice, autonomy, and accountability. Rather than assign students to a school based on their geographic residence or grade level, charter schools promote the idea that families should have an opportunity to choose what schools their children attend. To that end, some charter schools have themes that specifically seek to serve the needs of children from certain racial or ethnic backgrounds, emphasize certain elements of the traditional school curriculum, or focus on giving students access to subjects and technologies that most public schools lack the resources to offer (Scott, 2002).

Besides offering families and opportunity to choose a public school for their children, charter schools also operate with more autonomy than traditional public schools. Although traditional public schools are subject to the management and supervision of local school boards, charter schools generally function outside of the control of local school districts. Through their charters, these schools establish a more direct relationship with their states by contracting to use state funds to provide a public education in their own specified manner. Because each charter is different, each charter school may have different objectives, target populations, grade levels, and missions. At the same time, the charter allotted to these schools also endows them with the ability to make adjustments to their structure, curricula, and other elements of operation without fulfilling all of the procedural requirements applied to traditional public schools.

An emphasis on accountability is one of the most prominent features of charter schools. In exchange for the funding provided by the state, charter schools agree to meet certain ...