School Performance - Tracking The Charter School Movement

Estimated Number of Charter Schools Opening in September: 1992-1999

The chart shows U.S. Department of Education (DOE) data. Between 1992, when Minnesota opened the nation's first two schools, and 1999, the number of operating charters rose to 1,484, with 252,009 students enrolled. Charter School Resource Center reports 467 new schools for the 2001-02 school year, for a total of 2,370 charters, with 67 more already authorized to start in the fall of 2002. Obviously, charter schools are catching on.

Charter School Resource Center defines charter schools as "independent public schools of choice, free from rules but accountable for results and customer satisfaction." DOE says they are formed "to realize an alternative vision for schooling." Just about anyone can apply for a charter. Funding depends on how many students a charter school can attract and retain. Success depends on how satisfied parents are with results.

2001-02 Estimated Enrollment

About 2% of schools are charter schools. They serve about 1% of public school students. Parents and teachers devise curricula. In a survey of 305 charter schools operating in 1999, the Center for Education Reform found that the top five programs were science/math/tech, core knowledge, thematic instruction, back-to-basics, and college prep. The table shows an estimated enrollment of 576,000 in 2001, a 129% increase over 1999.

In 1988 American Federation of Teachers' (AFT) President Albert Shanker called charter schools "the best answer so far" to the lack of autonomy and flexibility that teachers faced. By 2000, 36 states and the District of Columbia had adopted charter school laws.

Such a challenge to the educational establishment must have its opponents. Ironically, it is the 1-million-member AFT/AFL-CIO that is one of the most outspoken foes of charter schools. The AFT Web site declares: "If the goal is improved student achievement, students in some charter schools are not faring very well. Studies of charter schools in Texas and Arizona show that there has been no evidence of improved student performance…"

The 2.6-million-member National Education Association favors charter schools but cautions that many schools have a racial/ethnic composition similar to the surrounding district. Racial balance is not improved. Thus schools may be "creaming the students that are the least costly to educate."

Time calls the charter school movement a "grassroots revolt." The first charter school served 35 inner-city high school "dropouts." Since then, the movement has been most active in large cities where low-income schools (25% of American public schools), are conspicuously failing to educate children. More than half of all charter students are enrolled in three states: Arizona, California, and Michigan, where the largest cities have a high percentage of minority enrollments.

In 1997, under the stewardship of Governor George W. Bush, Texas adopted one of the most progressive charter school laws in the country. As "Education President," Bush can be expected to continue his support for charter schools, which, under the rubric "public school choice," have wide support from both political parties. The dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education calls this a welcome contrast to longstanding Republican Party opposition to federal aid to education. Still, according to DOE, most charter schools cite lack of resources as their most serious challenge. Federal legislation authorized $60 million for fiscal year 2002 for public charter schools.

Are charter schools the solution to failing public schools? It's too soon to tell. But they certainly generate enthusiasm. Recent research shows problems with accountability. Once that problem is solved, charter schools may end up with the same bureaucracy as the systems they replaced. Back in Minnesota, where it all began, more than 20% of charter schools faced financial problems so serious that state legislators called for an oversight board. Several schools were forced to close under a cloud of financial and academic problems. There are plenty of opportunities for abuse. In California, a surprise inspection of a public charter school found that it was teaching the tenets of Islam and may have been charging $350 to $400 per month in tuition.

Could anyone have foreseen that after charter schools would come the privatization of public schools? The next panel looks at for-profit charter schools.

Source: U.S. Department of Education. Office of Educational Research and Improvement. The State of Charter Schools 2000. Online. Available: http://www.ed.gov/ April 17, 2002. Duchesne Paul Drew and Anthony Lonetree. "Charter schools face a tougher test." Star Tribune (Minneapolis), 9 January 2001 p.01A. "Islamic charter school may have violated California regulations." Church & State. February 2002 vol. 55, i2, p.18. Center for Education Reform. "Charter Schools Today: Changing the Face of American Education." Online. Available: http://www.edreform.com. April 17, 2002. American Federation of Teachers. "Charter Schools." Online. Available: www.aft.org. April 8, 2002. "What the Research Reveals About Charter Schools." The Center for Education Reform. August 2001. Online. Available: www.edreform.com. April 18, 2002. Gary Miron and Christopher Nelson, "Student Academic Achievement in Charter Schools: What We Know and Why We Know So Little," National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, Occasional Paper No. 41. Online. Available: http://ncspe.org/. April 17, 2002. "Charter Schools Overview." National Education Association. Online. Available: http://www.nea.org. April 18, 2002. "Envisioning the Ideal Education President: An Historical Perspective." Online. Available: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ April 18, 2002.