Comparing Charters With Other Schools

Is there a 'backlash' against charter schools?

There's always been 'Backlash' against charter schools by some proponents of traditional public schools, because they see charter schools as competition, both for students, teachers, principals for example, and funding. Right now there....it depends on the state or the city that you live in whether or not there is a 'Backlash' against charter schools, because in some states, they have been very good about meeting the needs of the state overall, for example, in terms of housing students, in terms of increasing student achievement. In other places, there have been mixed results on charter schools. Charter schools may not be achieving as high as traditional public schools. In other places, charter schools have done really really well, and they are really being seen as a'new hope' for certain types of kids that wouldn't achieve very well in traditional public schools. Really the thing about charter schools is that the reviews are mixed. If you're a parent, you may love a charter school because of what it does for your child. If you're a teacher, you might love a charter school. If you're a superintendent of a traditional public school, you may hate a charter schools because they seem to be taking all your kids. The thing about charter schools is that they really are set up by law to be competition to public schools, traditional public schools, and even though I don't see them as competition, really I see them as an example of different types of schools there can be in our country, in our cities, in our school districts. Many people do see them as competition, and as a result you're always going to get 'Backlash'.

How is a charter school different from a public school?

Charter school is different from a traditional public school in many ways. First there's curricular ways, some schools have philosophies are very different from traditional public schools. For example, there are charter schools that believe in art-based learning, that believe in project-based learning, that are math and science focused, that believe in Waldorf or monosory practices for example. You find that in traditional public schools. Traditional public schools, by and large, have this one size fts all model. If you're in high school this is the way you are going to do it and if your lucky you might go into what's called an AP program or an honors program or a magnet program but not all kids can get into those programs. Charter schools are really about creating these programs as whole schools and then having parents and, students in some cases, choose those programs for themselves. There also different from traditional public schools in that they are autonomous, that is that they are independent from a large school district. There isn't what would be considered a board of education downtown or the central office that is running a hundred schools. Each school really is its own autonomous entity and has its own governing board that really caters to that school. In many ways it is sort of like what a private school has. A private school may have a board of trustees or board of overseers. A charter school has same thing, it's an autonomous entity and body. Also another difference in charter schools is where they are located. For example, some charter schools maybe in strip malls, others maybe in a high-rise building, others may be in a converted warehouse, a converted supermarket. Charters school can sort of prop up anywhere as long as they met the local codes for buildings and safety so in some cases, we've seen some amazing innovative schools in the most far out places like a warehouse that has been converted into learning labs for example, pretty exciting stuff actually.

Do charters take money away from public schools?

Charter schools do not take money away from traditional public schools in the sense that the money belongs to the students. Traditional public schools and charter schools get funding for the children that they enrol. Therefore, if a child goes from a public school to a charter school, that money follows the child. Philosophically, I believe that money belongs to the kid, belongs to the student, and therefore, as parents make choices where the students go, that money should follow those kids. However, or conversely, someone could say, yes, once the kids leave it goes away from the traditional public school system and into a charter school, but again, who does the money belong to? It belongs to the child. We need to understand that charter schools are public schools. They are not private schools and that's really what is important. Therefore, the state public money that goes into a traditional public school when a kid does not enrol there, that money goes into a public charter school.

Do charter schools answer to the same authorities as public or private schools?

Charter schools answer to the same authorities as traditional public schools, that is the Department of Education at the state level. They also answer to the public, meaning all public schools have to participate in what's called the state testing system, so all students in public schools, whether they be charter or traditional, have to take standardized tests at the end of the year. Those tests, in many communities, are released to the public through newspapers, and each school is ranked based on those test scores. In a sense, they do not only have to comply with what the Department of Education stipulates, but also to the public itself who funds public schools in general.

What advantages do charters offer compared to public schools?

The children that are enrolled in charter schools benefit in many ways over their being enrolled, for example, in a traditional public school. In what I believe to be the most basic way, most charter schools are small schools, so children really are individualized. They really are known and cared for by adults in the school. They're not just seen as a number. In other ways, or as a direct result of that, the curriculum and instruction can be tailored to the needs of that child. Twenty students in a classroom learn twenty different ways, and if you don't know those kids very well you cannot meet their needs. In a charter school, that is by nature very small, you can know those kids, and their families, and their circumstances really well, and therefore address the needs and the gaps of that child or their learning modality, for example, in a more focused way. Additionally, I believe that students in charter schools benefit from the lasting relationships they make with one another. Having small schools, they know most of their peers in their school, both the students that are ahead of them in grade levels and the students that are behind them. There's a sense of family and community, and also there is something that happens in charter schools that I believe people don't know and that is because you have to create the school yourself. You have to create the environment yourself. That the students and the parents and the kids are all part of creating it: the way a school looks, the way it's kept up. They own the school, very different from the school you're forced to attend, which would be in a sense a traditional public school. What that gives to students, really, is a sense of responsibility, ownership, and pride in their school that also has a direct benefit to their feeling of self-worth, therefore their feeling of being capable, and really a direct result, their feeling of achievement. It's a really important thing that I think our traditional public schools have failed to do, and that is to give our kids ownership over that which belongs to them which is their school.

How is a charter school different from a private school?

Charter schools are different than private schools in that they don't charge tuition. Charter schools are public schools. Private schools typically charge tuition, which is how they make their money to be able to afford their teachers, and be able to educate the kids. Charter schools do not charge tuition as their funding comes straight from the state and federal governments. Secondly, private schools by and large, have admission requirements. They possibly test the kids to get them into the schools and they're also able to pick and choose what students come into private schools. Charter schools as public schools cannot. There are no admissions requirements for charter schools. In fact, if there are more students who want to attend a charter school than there are spaces, a public random lottery must be held. It gives anybody an opportunity and a chance to attend a charter school. Private schools are different in that way. There is a complete misconception that charter schools are private schools. That's something we really need to dispel, because charter schools are public schools. Anybody can attend from the kid with the most need, for example a student with special needs or special education. Those students have every right to attend a public charter school. By law, no charter school can deny a student attending the school because of needs, race, colour, creed, orientation, or even where they live. A student who lives 18 miles down the road can attend if he or she desires.

How is a charter school different from a religious school?

Religious schools, for example, were founded to be able to promote a religious belief and a religious philosophy to the children that are in those schools. Charter schools, as public schools, by law cannot teach religion. They cannot teach a certain creator, a certain philosophy, or a certain faith. It's a public school. No public school can teach religion. And so in that sense it's very different from a religious school.

How is a charter school different from a Montessori school?

Charter schools are able to use many different types of instructional philosophies and methodologies, and Montessori happens to be one of those philosophies, and pedagogies that are aligned to a certain type of student, for example, that you're able to teach. Charter schools can be Montessori. They can also be Waldorf. They can also be project-based. They can also be arts-based, because charter schools can adopt and adapt many different types of instructional methodologies and pedagogies. Montessori happens to be one of those that charter schools use, and there are many Montessori schools in the United States that are also charter schools. However, there are also many Montessori schools in the United States that are private schools, and there is a difference between a private Montessori school and a charter Montessori school. The difference would be that one would charge tuition and have admissions requirements. That would be the private Montessori school. The public, or charter Montessori school, would have no admissions requirements and would not charge tuition.

How is a charter school different from a magnet school?

Magnet programs were federally mandated as an integration device during a time when there wasn't a lot of integration going on in public schools. Charter schools were not created for that specific reason. So you'll find magnet schools in traditional public schools, but you won't find magnet schools in charter schools. Magnet schools are schools where you are purposely trying to achieve a balanced racial diversity. Charter schools, because they must enrol any student who wants to attend doesn't have to achieve a balance in its diversity, and some schools because of the neighbourhood they're located in, charter schools can be all Latino for example, all African American. In other cases, charter schools, because of where they happen to be located are very diverse. But again, unlike magnet schools, they don't have to achieve a certain ethnic balance. In magnet schools, because they're trying to achieve ethnic and racial balance, students who apply to it receive a point system based on their ethnicity for example and based on the number of years they've been in the traditional public school system, and the more points you have, the more likely you are to be able to attend a magnet school. It's very different from a charter school where any student can attend, any student can apply, you don't receive extra points because you happen to be of a certain ethnicity or a certain racial background or enrolled within a certain geographic area. Any student can apply at a charter school. Magnet schools, again, you sort of get criteria and if you meet the criteria, if you fit the criteria, you get more points for that criteria, and then they sort of pick the kids that have the most points. That's how you get enrolled in a magnet school. So parents who are savvy about how the criteria works are able to start to apply early, get their kids in to apply to schools where they know they're not many students who look like their children, for example, to be able to get more points. Again, this is different from charter schools. Anybody can attend any school at any part of the city, any part of a neighbourhood or any neighbourhood.

Statistically, how do charters perform compared to public schools?

There have been many reports and many studies commissioned on charter schools. Everybody wants to know how they do compared to the traditional public schools. The results have been mixed. For example, recent studies have stated that schools that have large minority and low-income students - those types of students enrolled in charter schools - outperform the same types of students in traditional public schools. There are other studies that have said, when you look at just apples-to-apples/students-to-students, when you compare a charter school versus a traditional school, in some cases the charter schools outperform the traditional schools; in other cases they do not. It has to do with what you're looking at as criteria in terms of examining achievement. By and large though, study after study has stated that students who are low-income, minority, considered 'at risk', that 10 charter schools are outperforming students of the same type in traditional public schools.

How do charters perform compared to private schools?

There is no way to compare charter schools with private schools, because private schools are not mandated by the state or federal law to test students using the same standardized tests. Whereas, charter schools are mandated by state and federal law to test students the same way that traditional public schools are tested. However, one measure to compare the success of these schools is the thought of choice. Private schools are filled because they're good schools and because parents choose to send their kids there. Charter schools are filled with waiting lists because parents want to send their students there, so when you really look at that criteria, I think they're faring just as well. But beyond that, in terms of achievement, there's nothing to compare private schools with charter schools.

Are all charter schools the same?

Some charter schools are dual-language. They teach students two languages. In some cases, like our own school, Milagro Charter School, we teach students both in Spanish and in English. Other places are teaching students Latin and English, or French and English. Other schools have adopted instructional models that have to do with arts and have to do with project-based learning, or integrated learning through an integrated curriculum. There are other places where it is performance based, where the students are doing performances. Part of their learning is all about arts and performance based art. Other charter schools are hi-tech. There are schools across this country that are called hi-tech high schools. Those schools all have to do with technology and robotics and engineering, for example. There are many types of schools in this charter movement, and many different philosophies and many different models and approaches to do the same thing. The common thing amongst all schools is student achievement, whether you're an art-based school, a dual-language school, technology school, or an engineering school, you all have to perform at a certain level in achievement tests that are put on by the state, no matter what type of school you do.