The charter public school idea has spread rapidly in the last five years. As of late summer 1996, 25 states and the District of Columbia had adopted the idea in some fashion.
The goal of the charter movement is not just to establish innovative schools, but also to help improve the public education system. Charter schools provide families with choices and give skilled, entrepreneurial educators an opportunity, with accountability, to create more effective public schools. They also allow fair competition for public school districts.
- Charter schools are responsible for increased student achievement. A contract, or charter, stipulates academic goals and student assessment methods that are used to determine whether the school continues after a specified time, usually from three to five years.
- In exchange for explicit accountability, most rules and regulations are waived, other than those related to building safety and the rules mentioned above.
- Schools are free to set their working conditions and governance system, including the option to be a worker-owned cooperative.
- Charter schools receive the same per-pupil funding as other public schools.
- No one is assigned to a charter school. Each is a school of choice.
- More than one organization, like a state board of education or a public university, along with a local district, can sponsor a charter school.
Many educators and legislators are concluding that the charter approach is a much fairer form of school choice than vouchers. Most voucher plans include parochial schools, permit schools to charge tuition beyond what the state provides, and allow schools to use admissions tests. The charter approach does not permit any of this.
Poorly designed choice programs create more problems than they solve, but carefully created ones can produce widespread benefits. A recent national study found that most legislators proposed charters as an alternative, rather than a prelude, to vouchers (Nathan and Power 1996).
The following four schools illustrate the potential of the charter approach.
O'Farrell Community School
San Diego's O'Farrell Community School opened as an innovative public middle school in 1988, emphasizing restructuring, teacher and community empowerment, interagency collaboration, and interdisciplinary teaching. President Bill Clinton came to O'Farrell's campus to announce the first federal grants to help start charter schools.
The school serves about 1,400 inner-city students in grades 6-8. More than two-thirds of these students come from families eligible for free or reduced lunches. Approximately 36 percent are African American, 37 percent Filipino American, 16 percent Hispanic American, 4 percent Asian American, and 8 percent white.
Students are assigned to Educational Families of approximately 150 students and 6 teachers. All students study the same enriched curriculum, with six core challenges: Research Process, Community Service, Exhibition, Performance in Academic Skills, Presentation of the School's Philosophy to Visitors, and Appropriate Problem-Solving Behavior.
O'Farrell's governing council, which meets weekly, includes teachers, students, parents, representatives of community agencies helping the school, and Chief Education Officer Bob Stein, both leader and "Keeper of the Dream." In the early 1990s, the council decided to convert to charter status. O'Farrell, like many other innovative, award-winning public schools, wanted greater responsibility for decision making and control of its budget. For example, charter status allows each educational family to hire its own full-time Family Support Service Teacher, with money formerly spent on substitute teachers.
O'Farrell Community School is having an impact beyond its own walls. The National Education Association has asked teacher Byron King to help other public school teachers establish charters. Moreover, in the last year, 27 prospective educators from San Diego State University have either assisted or student-taught at the school.
Minnesota New Country School
Unlike O'Farrell, which converted to charter status, Minnesota New Country School is a new school, established by three technologically sophisticated public school teachers from tiny Henderson, Minnesota. When their school consolidated with the nearby town of LeSueur, the teachers found that many veteran LeSueur teachers had less experience and interest in using technology. After several frustrating years trying to improve this situation, the three teachers from Henderson convinced the local school board, on their second try, to grant them a charter.
The school received start-up grants from Community Learning Centers, a New American Schools project; the Southwestern Minnesota Initiative Fund; the Center for School Change; and a local business that asked the school's students and teachers to train its employees on the Internet.
The foundations of this year-round school are extensive parent involvement, teacher/student accountability, community as a place to learn, technology as a tool for learning, and Ted Sizer's Essential Principles. New Country, which serves a cross section of rural students (about 90) in grades 6-12, looks different from most schools. Its three buildings are former storefronts on Main Street in LeSueur, remodeled by teachers, parents, and students the summer before the school opened. School staff meet with each student and his or her parents in August to review student and parent priorities for the year and to plan the student's program.
New Country School does not have traditional classrooms or classes. Students work on individual and group projects based on the plans they've developed with their parents and their advisors. Multiage groupings are common. Walking into the storefronts, visitors might think they were walking into a business office, except that the "employees" are teenagers.
Every other month, students report their progress at "Presentation Nights" held in a community center. For example, two students worked with the local chamber of commerce to compile a database of local businesses. Throughout the school day, faculty move from student to student, reviewing progress, asking questions, and providing advice on projects. To graduate, students must demonstrate skills in basic areas like writing, public speaking, mathematics, and art, as well as in more applied areas like developing a post-high school plan and working effectively in a team.
Students frequently participate in field trips and internships (for example, at the local radio station). Recently, on a field trip along the nearby Minnesota River, students noticed that many of the frogs they saw had two, three, or five, rather than the typical four, legs. The youngsters collected data in their notebooks and, after their nature hike, contacted the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. They learned that mutations in frogs may be a sign of major pollution problems. To make a long story short, after students testified, the Minnesota legislature awarded the school and the Pollution Control Agency money to continue their research. The Frog Project has gathered national attention and the interest of professional scientists.
As noted, technology is a focus of the school, and students often use one of the 40 computers. By deciding not to hire a principal, the school could afford to buy computers and to pay teachers a higher salary than the local district does. (New Country School teachers work a longer day and year than other local teachers.) As at other charter schools in states with "strong" charter laws, the school, not the district, sets teachers' working conditions. Teachers are evaluated yearly.
Like O'Farrell Community School, New Country is beginning to have an impact beyond its walls. Recently, an ABC Network crew filmed computer workshops for local district teachers taught by the school's faculty as well as some students.
City Academy
The nation's first charter to have its contract renewed, City Academy is located in a low-income area of St. Paul, Minnesota. To help get the school running, Northern States Power donated computers, provided start-up funds, and hired several City Academy graduates. The City of St. Paul leases space to the school in a recreation building built for youngsters to use after school and on weekends. Before City Academy moved in, the building was virtually empty during the day.
The school enrolls about 60 racially diverse youngsters, ages 15-21, who had left other schools without graduating. Milo Cutter, who helped found the school, sees these youngsters' strengths, not just their problems. Terry Kraabel, another City Academy teacher, shares Cutter's interest in active, hands-on approaches, and in using the youngsters' energy. He helps them learn via construction projects, where they see applications of the math problems he gives them.
Under the supervision of a contractor and union workers, City Academy students have helped gut and rehabilitate several buildings. Kraabel explains, "If students make mistakes, we don't get into finger-pointing. The kids know it has to be done right. They usually do it that way the first time." The students often help neighbors, including shoveling snow for elderly residents.
Cutter and Kraabel think the small size of the school is a strength. Cutter is frustrated by the millions of dollars districts are spending to hire police and purchase metal detectors. "More and more youngsters don't fit in large schools. We know it. We have to do something about it."
Violence has not been a problem at City Academy. As one student points out, "If there's a problem, we talk it out. People listen to each other. No one is afraid."
Another student says that the teachers push her to "do my best. At a large school it seemed like most of the teachers just wanted us to be there. It's way better here."
Students help develop the school's rules, but it's not an anything-goes environment. One student explained, "It's like the teachers are saying, 'We care about you, so we expect a lot, and we'll help you get there.' "
Cutter and Kraabel worked with colleges and employers to develop graduation requirements, which call for demonstration of knowledge. Beyond the three Rs, students develop a post-high school plan. Students' goals provide a focus for City Academy courses.
The National Education Association has asked Cutter, a union member, to help other teachers start charter schools, and featured her in a film about outstanding teachers. She's pleased that the NEA is now trying to help some of its members start charter schools.
City Academy is accredited by the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges. In November 1995, the St. Paul Board of Education voted 7-0 to renew the school's charter for another three years.
Academy Charter School
In September 1993, parents and teachers started the Academy Charter School in Castle Rock, Colorado, in a former grocery store, about 25 miles south of Denver. The K–8 school's 315 students include both disabled and gifted.
Walking into the school, you might see some students building a model Parthenon with Lego blocks, while other youngsters practice a play based on a Greek classic. The school combines innovative teaching with conservative curriculum ideas. The school's parents and teachers believe in using phonics, the Saxon Math program, and the Core Knowledge Curriculum, developed by E. D. Hirsch.
Educators and parents do not think of Academy Charter as a back-to-basics school. As one teacher explained, "We believe in modern technology and active learning. But we want students to master content, not just to develop skills. I'd call it pragmatic education: we will do whatever it takes."
Academy parents praise the Douglas County School District for its support. As one parent explained, "The district could have reacted defensively to our questions and concerns. But the school board, Superintendent Rick O'Connell, and Assistant Superintendent Pat Grippe allowed our group of parents to create the kind of school we thought made sense." Grippe believes in public school choice, noting that "when families select schools, they are more committed to them, and their students do better."
The district sponsors three charter schools with differing philosophies. Randy Quinn, executive director of the Colorado School Board Association, believes that the charter law opens up new opportunities for school boards to do this kind of thing. He thinks the charter idea may help districts deal with "competing philosophies about what public schools should do or not do" (1993).
Academy students' improved scores on standardized tests support the school's approach. The first year's progress report, using the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, showed a 9 percent overall increase in math, a 4 percent increase in language, and a 3 percent gain in average reading score. Progress continued, and in the spring of 1996, after a careful study, the Douglas County Board extended Academy's charter for another two years. The state department of education also named Academy Charter a Colorado School of Excellence.
Strengthening Public Education
- After Massachusetts adopted its charter legislation, allowing charter proponents to apply directly to the state for sponsorship, 18 of the first 64 charter proposals came from Boston. The Boston Public Schools and Boston Teachers Union responded by approving a proposal they had been considering, but had not yet adopted: a pilot school plan allowing educators to apply directly to the district for permission to create new schools.
- After Colorado adopted charter legislation, parents and educators in several districts who had tried for years to start or replicate successful innovative schools found that school boards were more responsive.
- Several Minnesota school districts had previously resisted parents' requests to create Montessori public schools. Then, after charter legislation passed, they created new within-district Montessori options.
Five years of experience show that the details of state charter laws matter enormously. The five states with the "strongest" laws allow some entity other than local school boards, such as a state board of education or public universities, to sponsor charters. As of December 1995, the five states with the strongest laws had 222 charter schools, compared to only 14 schools in the five states with the weakest laws (Bierlein 1996). Strong laws also allow charter schools to create their own work rules, rather than be bound by local labor-management agreements.
With most charter schools in their first few years, it's too early for definitive conclusions. Charter schools in California, Colorado, and Minnesota, however, have had their contracts renewed or extended because of demonstrated progress with students. For example, the Sacramento, California, School Board recently extended Bowling Green Charter School's contract for an additional two years after students showed improvements in achievement, attendance, and behavior. These are noteworthy gains from a place that five years ago was one of the three lowest achieving schools in the district.
Younger charter schools report achievement gains as measured by standardized tests, along with other measures. For example, a first-year evaluation of the New Visions Charter in Minneapolis—a K–8 school that works predominantly with inner-city students who have not succeeded in other schools—showed a 1.5-year average gain on the Slosson Oral Reading Test among its children of color and a 1.4-year average gain on the same test among its white students.
Educators throughout the nation are accepting the challenge and opportunity that the charter movement represents. The charter concept—combining freedom, accountability, and competition—can be an important part of redesigning and strengthening public education.
