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Running Head: THE CHARTER SCHOOL ACT OF 1998
The Charter School Act of 1998 and its Socio-political Reality
Social, cultural, and political variables impact the lives of our children, including their development. One explores the socio-political reality of the Charter School Act of 1998 to our society. There are unwavering viewpoints in favor and staunch positions against the Act. The Charter School Act of 1998 created an antagonistic war of words concerning the direction of public education. Those in favor of the Act purport its favorable addition to public school education. Conversely, opponents argue that charter schools will ultimately privatize public education. Nonetheless, this paper seeks to provide historical background
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strong academic results are attributable to charters ?counseling out? underperforming students, either explicitly or implicitly, through strict discipline and attendance policies or high academic or parent involvement expectations.? The fact is there is no evidence of charter school policies that explicitly push out students. Furthermore, a recent study found that below-average students were more likely to leave traditional public schools than public charter schools. Emerging research provides evidence that public charter schools are not pushing out low-performing students. A 2013 study by Ron Zimmer and Cassandra Guarino examined patterns of student transfers in an anonymous school district with more than 60 public charter schools. The study finds no evidence that public charter schools were more likely to push out low-performing students. Conversely, the study finds that below-average students were 5 percent more likely to leave traditional public schools than below-average students in public charter schools. In fact, a larger percentage of public charter schools in the district made Adequate Yearly Progress compared with traditional public schools, making the district a good case study for examining whether charter schools were pushing out low-performing students to meet federal accountability …show more content…
Reading and math scores of Black and Latino students drop more than ten points between elementary and middle school. In one-third of schools serving middle-schoolers, a majority of eighth graders are reading below the standard, and these students are overwhelmingly black and Latino. Furthermore, less than half of Black and Latino students and a quarter of special education and ELL students graduate from high school in four years. The trend will get worse this year as higher standards go into effect.
In “Forget about charter schools,” Samuel Abrams, implies that we should incorporate business concepts to schools. Milton Friedman, a renown economist from the University of Chicago, called for a free market approach to schools in 1955. He said it would be it improve the educational system and parents and students would have a greater choice in their education. Furthermore, Freidman contended that it would free students from segregated schools and that would produce competition amongst schools. The problem with Milton’s assertions is that they would not create more competition; instead, they would create more segregation where the disadvantaged would be forced to pay for schools out of pocket if they wanted their children to go to better
Public education has had a negative effect on students; it’s often because of the bigger class sizes, poor test scores, and high crime in the surrounding areas. Public schools need to revise their system to determine what’s the best fit for their student’s educational needs. All children who live in a school district have a right to attend a district school. Many parents would like more options and opportunities for their child, and would like to be involved in their child’s education. Charter schools are part of the answer for a better educational choice for children’s academic achievement. Charter schools have many successful methods and continue to pave the way for children’s education needs .
Chicago charter high school has a higher standard of education and curriculum for students and to a pathway to early collage. The Three main points that I will be explaining in this essay are: Charter schools benefits students and help students achieve by improving academic performance and results through specific charters. As schools operating outside of the traditional public school system, charter schools could provide more flexibility and improved leaning environment as well individualized choices or pathways for students. The Charter schools provide choices for families that are educational. It improves specific curriculum ideas and makes teachers have more balance in their work. The thesis statement states the essay’s main argument
Why choose to go to Charter School rather than public school? Charter schools are public school of choice, meaning families choose for their children. Federal legislation provides grants to help charters to manage start-up costs. They create better educational opportunities for the students therefore they have higher expectations in teaching. Charter Schools and zoned (public) schools are tuition free but unfortunately not everyone can get in to Charter school, since it works by lottery. Everyone has the opportunity to apply and has a choice to attend Charlet School if the students are lucky enough to get in. Charter schools are more effective for three reasons: they have higher graduation rates, teachers are more prepared and devoted to their students, and teachers take a greater responsibility for their students as they compete against Zoned Schools.
For example, analysis by the National Center for Education Statistics in 2009 and 2011 showed that African American and Hispanic students were behind their white peers by an average of more than 20 test score points on the NAEP math and reading assessments at 4th and 8th grades, Which averages out to about 2 grade levels below their white peers. These gaps persisted even though the score of students tests between African American and white students narrowed between 1992 and 2007 in 4th grade math and reading and 8th grade math (NCES, 2009,
Charter schools are unique public schools that is allowed the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. These charter schools are not private schools, they do not charge for tuition and they are open to all children within specific boundaries. Research has demonstrated that charter schools make picks up in the urban community with students who have veritably been undeserved by traditional state funded schools. Charter schools outscored their traditional school peers in 25 of the 41 cities in math, and 23 of the 42 cities in reading. On average, charter schools had no significant impacts on student’s achievement. Charter schools help enhance student learning, empower the utilization of new and imaginative educating strategies, and give schools an approach to move from a lead based to an execution based arrangement of responsibility. Public schools are like charter schools except for the freedom that a charter school has. And private school is based on tuition and that is funded by charities and tax holders in that community.
It was with wild fanfare that the state’s Republican legislature and Republican Governor enacted their reforms for the state’s public school system. Among the panaceas was charter schools, a ‘90s education fad that gives individual parents the right to send their children to state-approved public charter schools at public expense. Politicians reasoned that less-bureaucratic charter schools would teach students better than traditional public schools because charter schools wouldn’t be subject to the same mandates that the state had heaped upon public schools. Furthermore, traditional schools would be forced to compete with charter schools as they lured thousands
The first day of school is a rite of passage for most children. The step from home or day care to school is huge: they are a big kid now. However, sometimes the local Public School, especially in rural or economically challenged areas, can be an uncertain, questionable and scary place, and yet parents are expected to entrust them with their five or six year old child. Some years ago, when my daughter was ready to enter school, she and I had just such an experience, and we began to seriously search for an alternative school for her to attend. What we discovered was a Charter School: a possible solution for parents, enabling them to take more control of their child’s education. For my daughter and
When schools are converted to charters or “turned around” they are following the educational reform of Arne Duncan to give better education to underserved areas in Chicago. The myth of this is that these schools are highly beneficial to the underprivileged areas when in fact they are doing a great amount of harm. In “Arne Duncan and the Chicago Success Story: Myth or Reality?” the myth is recognized by stating the impact on children and teachers; a statement from the article says, “Renaissance 2010 was (and is) marketed as an opportunity to bring in new partners with creative approaches to education. That's the myth” (Brown, Gutstein, Lipman, 2009). As stated, the myth here is schools should be operated as markets and the charter school system does this by getting rid of the difficult working ways and replacing them with creative partners. Brown, Gutstein and Lipman further explain why the charter school is harming the community saying how students are facing attendance and violence problems, “…there is no guarantee that a student who had their school closed will attend a charter school and those who had their school closed down have faced destabilization of spikes in violence…” (Brown, Gutstein, Lipman, 2009). This demonstrates the fault of charter schools because it shows how community warnings were ignored on what school closings will do to the neighborhood. A further statement on the problem with teachers and charters schools found in the
The issue with identifying a single problem with the American education system is the extreme complexity of it. There are a number of factors that play into a student’s success. These factors include, but aren’t limited to: economic background, home life, teachers, family emphasis on education, administration, curriculum, and extracurricular activities. The film most often blames teachers for the prevailing problems with the education system. Most critics are quick to tell you that this is wrong; however one should not dismiss this idea so quickly. According to a study conducted by a Stanford economist named Eric Hanushek, teachers are accountable for up to twenty percent of a student’s success. Diane Ravitch, author of “The Myth of Charter Schools,” leads her readers to believe that this should absolve teachers from any wrongdoing. However, twenty percent is a considerable number, accounting for one fifth of a student’s success. Despite the numbers, teachers are an intricate part of the learning process. A great teacher can make or break you in the long run of really understanding the course
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
Education is a very important part of a person’s life. Every parent want the best thing for their children. They want their children to be happy and to be able to achieve their dreams and be what they want to be, which is why they want the best education for their children. Because, almost everyone would agree that being well – educated is the closest way to success life and good future. But, their desire to send their kids to the best school have to face many obstacles. One of these obstacles would be choosing school for their kids. In the U.S., there are three types of school: public school, charter school and private school. Private schools are usually very selective, has better performance than government-funded school and has expensive tuition fee. Rich families would send their kids to private schools because they could afford the expense. However, for a normal family, paying the expense for private schools would be overwhelming. So, there options are narrowed between charter schools and public schools. There have been many debates on whether charter schools or public schools provide students with better education. But, there are obvious evidences that charter schools are generally better than public schools:
Education is a very important aspect in society and is valued by parents, politicians, educators, and others in the community. The education of children is a vital role in any organized system because the future depends on those who are young to take over in the cycle of society. The institutions that provide children with an education can be divided into two categories known as traditional public schools and nontraditional schools. Nontraditional schools provide students with different learning environments compared to traditional schools and some specific examples of these schools are magnet schools, charter schools, and virtual schools (Newberry). All of these schools are relatively new and have controversial views across the country.
"The Charter School Vs. Public School Debate Continues." NPR. Claudio Sanchez, 16 June 2013. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.