Results - Early promise
Evidence on the growth and outcomes of this relatively new
movement has started to come in. The
U.S. Department of Education's First Year Report, part of a
four-year national study on charters, is based on interviews of 225
charter schools in 10 states (1997). Charters tend to be small
(fewer than 200 students) and represent primarily new schools,
though some schools had converted to charter status. Charter schools
often tend to exist in urban locations, rather than rural. This
study found enormous variation among states. Charter schools tended
to be somewhat more racially diverse, and to enroll slightly fewer
students with special needs and limited-English-proficient students
than the average schools in their state. The most common reasons for
founding charters were to pursue an educational vision and gain
autonomy.[10]
"Charter schools are havens for children who had bad educational
experiences elsewhere," according to a
Hudson Institute survey of students, teachers, and parents from
fifty charters in ten states. More than 60 percent of the parents
said charter schools are better than their children's previous
schools in terms of teaching quality, individual attention from
teachers, curriculum, discipline, parent involvement, and academic
standards. Most teachers reported feeling empowered and
professionally fulfilled[11]. |