Getting Into A Charter School
How can I find a charter school?
Charter schools are cropping up everywhere. There are many ways that you can find out where charter schools are located in your geographic area. The first is calling your local school district and really asking the question, "Are there any charter schools in my neighborhood?" Others would be to go and call the Department of Education at the state level and ask them. There are usually charter units within those departments and ask them if there are charter schools in your neighborhood. There is also a website called greatschools.net, and if you type in your zip code it will give you all the schools that are located in your area and they will determine whether they are charter or traditional public schools, or even private schools for that matter. It's a great resource for people trying to find schools that will fit their children.
How do I shop for a charter school?
As a parent, you have a right to shop for the school that is best for your child, whether it be a traditional public school, or a charter public school. The best thing to do is call the school you are interested in attending and ask for a tour. Call the school. They will arrange for a tour for you to come, see, and speak to the teachers, the site leaders, and also speak to other parents. See what they offer at that school. There is also a way to see how the school does academically. Every state department of education has a website where in they post the scores, the test scores, of each school individually. You could type in the name of the school, and you can see how it ranks compared to other schools. Take a look at the school. Remember that not all, not everything, is said through test scores. So really do go to the school, see if it feels good, ask the questions that you want answered, and more importantly, see if there is a welcoming environment there, and ask yourself, "will my child do good here?".
How do I know if a charter is right for my child?
Some of the questions that you might ask to find out whether or not a charter school is right for your child are - What is the philosophy of the school? What are the instructional practices at the school? How is the school different from the school down the street? What are the qualifications of the teachers teaching that will be teaching my child? How has the school achieved compared to the school down the street in terms of the state testing? What is the school's retention rate of students? If students are leaving the school, then that might say something about the school. What is the wait list like at the school? If many people want to get into the school that means there's something good happening there. What is the retention rate of the faculty and staff? In some cases, if there's lots of turnover that might say something about the school. More importantly ask questions that are very specific about your child. For example, if you know that your child learns best visually, ask the teacher, ask the principal, what they do for that modality. Is everything written on the board? Are there multisensory things on the walls? If your child is a kinesthetic learner, is physical education one of those things that's important to the school? If your child is a special needs student or gifted, are there services for that child? I believe that the more questions you can ask that are very specific about the needs of your child, the better off you're going to be to know whether or not that is the fit for your child.
Can I get my child into any charter school simply by applying?
Charter schools are mandated by law to hold public random lotteries if there are more applications than there are seats available in that particular school. What you must do is call the school that you are interested in and ask about their enrolment time line - some schools start enrolment in the fall, others start enrolment in the spring, others wait until the end of the year. The sooner you know that, the easier it's going to be to get your application in on time. Once your application is in, really you have the same shot that anybody else does in getting your child enrolled in that school because it's all based on a lottery.
