Pros And Cons Of Charter Schools

With the rise of the care for education in this day and age, many people are starting to question the pros and cons of traditional public schools, and charter schools. There are many parents who believe that since they can choose their child’s school, they can allow them to attend a charter school. On the other hand, there are many parents who believe that traditional public schools are still the best route and option to take. “A charter school is an independently run public school, granted greater flexibility in its operations, in return for greater accountability for performance. The “charter” establishing each school, is a performance contract detailing the school’s mission, program, students served, performance goals, and methods of assessment”

Certification for charter schools is a very various and broad topic, which varies state by state. There are also other circumstances, per state, that make justifications for certifications.

“Certification requirements vary on a state-by-state basis. In New Jersey, all teachers must be certified, and Uncommon Schools helps teachers navigate the alternate route process to secure their teaching credentials. In New York, while the state does not require that 100% of teachers be certified at each charter school, the rules under the "No Child Left Behind" Law mean that teachers need to get their licenses with reasonable speed; Uncommon New York City is able to ensure that its teachers are enrolled in a Master's program that provides provisional certification and, more importantly, high quality training. In Massachusetts, charter school teachers must attain Highly Qualified teacher status as dictated by the "No Child Left Behind" Law by possessing a bachelor’s degree and demonstrating subject matter competence in the subjects they teach; Uncommon Boston encourages teachers to get certified and assists them in this process.”

Their most recent study was conducted in Texas.

“The results in CREDO’s Texas report show that on average, charter schools in Texas show less progress in both reading and mathematics compared to their district school peers. This shortfall in learning can be equated to a student losing about 14 days of learning in reading and 29 days of learning in math based on an 180‐day school year. The good news is that charter schools show improvement since 2009; by the last year of the study charter schools have eliminated the difference in reading and have reduced the gap in math to half of what it was in 2009. The progress that we are seeing reinforces that attention to quality is having an effect. These efforts need to continue and expand to assure that all charter schools provide a quality education," said Margaret Raymond, Director of CREDO at Stanford University” (Raymond