Charter Schools - The way to success?

To convert struggling public schools into charter schools is very popular among the educational system in the United States of America. Thus the charter schools have only existed for two decades, the number of public schools with interest of converting is increasing. According to Mooney there have not been many conversions in New York and New Jersey, but in California there have been over 130 conversions this year.

Figure 1 - States that allow charter schools

There may be many reasons for a public school to convert into a charter school, as Wells, Lopez, Scott and Holme points that there are different groups of charter school founders, which can all share frustrations with the state-run public educational system, but they will most likely have different reasons for their frustration (p.182). By converting a public school into a charter school you have the opportunity to try different programs and governance independent of the local districts (Mooney, 2012) There are now discussions wether ailing public schools in New Jersey should convert to charter schools or not. Wells, Lopez, Scott and Holme writes that there are some communities that have a much more difficult time starting and maintaining charter schools than others (p. 182). This may be true in New Jersey, with some saying that the requirements are too daunting for any district school to overcome.

Figure 2 - Dr. Roland Fryer

According to ‘Educational news’, Dr. Roland Fryer has developed a program to improve the public schools in New York. He studied 35 charter schools, and created a program where he extended the academic calendar with five days, and each day with one hour.  The schools replaced over 50 per cent of their staff, and students had to submit assessments every month and a half.  He also made students in 6^th and 9^th grade attend intensive private math instructions from full time teachers, and posted academic goals in the classrooms and around the schools. The results of this program were positive and also another similar program in Denver gives positive results.

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References:

Mooney J. (2012). Ailing Public and Private Schools Consider Conversion to Charterhttp://www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0910/2343/

Lawrece J. (2012). Fryer's Pilot Program for Charter Approach Shows Positive Results

http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-politics/fryers-pilot-program-for-charter-approach-shows-positive-results/

http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Organizing-a-school/Charter-schools-Finding-out-the-facts-At-a-glance

Wells, A.S., Lopez, A., Scott, J. & Holme, J.J. (1999). Charter schools as postmodern paradox: Rethinking social stratification in an age of deregulated school choice. Harvard Education Review, 69(2), 172-204