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Charter schools offer something that public school systems,
parents, and teachers need: a way to experiment with alternative
ways of teaching, motivating students, organizing schools, using
technology, and employing teachers. While people came down on both
sides of support for or against charter schools, everyone was
surprised by how difficult it was to assess charter school
performance. The first part of this book focuses on how to improve
estimates of charter schools' performance, especially their
benefits to students who attend them; the second part suggests how
policymakers can learn more about charter schools and make better
use of evidence. The editors and authors suggest ways states and
localities can improve the quality of data on which charter school
studies are based and trace some of the ways charter school
research influences policy.
Unique Schools Serving Unique Students (Robin Lake, editor) offers
a pioneering look at the role of charter schools in meeting the
needs of special education students. The book addresses choices
made at the intersection of two very important policy arenas in
education: special education and charter schools. Drawing lessons
from parent surveys and case studies, this volume poses and
addresses a number of important questions that have received
limited attention to date: How many students with disabilities
attend charter schools? How do parents choose schools for their
children with special needs and how satisfied are they with their
choices? What innovations are coming out of the charter school
sector that might be models for public education writ large?
Finally, what challenges and opportunities do charter schools bring
to special education? Written for education generalists and policy
leaders, the contributors provide vivid examples of innovative
practices. They also make specific recommendations for the policy
action, technical supports, and further research required to
promote more widespread adoption of the special education practices
we see in effective charter schools.
Charter schools offer something that public school systems,
parents, and teachers need: a way to experiment with alternative
ways of teaching, motivating students, organizing schools, using
technology, and employing teachers. While people came down on both
sides of support for or against charter schools, everyone was
surprised by how difficult it was to assess charter school
performance. The first part of this book focuses on how to improve
estimates of charter schools' performance, especially their
benefits to students who attend them; the second part suggests how
policymakers can learn more about charter schools and make better
use of evidence. The editors and authors suggest ways states and
localities can improve the quality of data on which charter school
studies are based and trace some of the ways charter school
research influences policy.
Charter schools are among the most debated and least understood
phenomena in American education today. At the heart of these
matters is a contested question of accountability. To survive,
charter schools must make and keep promises about what students
will experience and learn under their purview. However, unlike
public schools, charter schools do not rely exclusively on their
relationship with school districts. They must also look to parents,
teachers, and donors to cooperatively establish expectations of a
particular school and its mission. Aimed toward elected officials,
school reform activists, and educators, this book is the result of
the first national-scale study of charter school accountability.
The authors researched one hundred-fifty schools and sixty
authorizing agencies in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia,
Massachusetts, and Michigan. These states contain the majority of
charter schools that have been operating for three years or more
and represent the major differences in state charter school
legislation. The authors include interviews from a range of
participants in the field(c)from state legislators and
administrators to principals, teachers, and parents. In assessing
the structure of accountability as it works internally to bolster
external confidence, Hill and Lake suggest the struggle of charter
schools actually complements those of standards based reform. Both
seek to transform public education to make schools responsible for
performance, not compliance.
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