| Charter Schools Offer a Different Option |
By: Mary Lee Shalvoy, Education Columnist
On 2/10/06
When it was time for her daughter, Sarah, to start junior high school, Kate Johnson Stiling considered her options. Stiling worried about the traditional public schools. Would any offer Sarah a strong enough education? Were they too big, causing Sarah to get lost in the shuffle?
| "Students and parents answered surveys, student groups conducted smaller investigations and teachers had their say in an actual final budget..." |
She wanted something more for Sarah and found it in a California charter school called the Alameda Community Learning Center (ACLC). It has a smaller student population than any of the other junior highs in town (about 200), with smaller class sizes. ACLC serves sixth through twelfth grades and more “learners” continue on to a four-year college education than those from any other school in town. The charter program appealed to Stiling and her daughter is now flourishing there.
Charter schools offer an alternative education opportunity that many people don’t realize they have. Charter schools are public schools that operate independently and don’t follow many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The "charter" establishing each of these schools is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, number and type of students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. The length of time for the charter varies, but most are in effect for three to five years.
Charter schools are a fairly recent occurrence. Since 1991, 40 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have signed into law charter school legislation. Currently there are more than one million students enrolled in more than 3,500 charter schools throughout the country. California has the lion’s share of charter schools with 574 serving 190,000 students.
Charter schools have emerged from a range of circumstances, whether it was a grassroots organizations of parents, teachers or community members attempting to establish a school based on a specific set of principles, or the administration and faculty of an existing school that worked to convert to a charter status on their own. Entrepreneurs also have opened schools devoted to educating the next wave of business owners.
According to www.USCharterSchools.org, parents and teachers choose charter schools primarily for educational reasons, including high academic standards, small class size, innovative approaches, or educational philosophies that are in keeping with their own. Since charter school typically have a smaller student population, charter schools offer a higher level of safety.
Charter schools also encourage (and receive) a higher level of parental participation and many offer a chance for a combined student-teacher-parent involvement in more than just class work.
At the Alameda Community Learning Center, the “learners” are involved not only in the education, but in the operation of the school itself. Paul Bentz, ACLC’s development director, said that the school’s model is unique as a charter school.
“It’s a very democratic model, where parents, learners and facilitators work together,” Paul Bentz noted. Acceptance in the school is based on a lottery system for students in the Alameda Unified School District. While the younger grades spend more time in a classroom, much of the work for the older students takes place in the Community Room.
“There is a lot of project work, with some direct instruction,” continued Bentz. “One major difference between public and charter schools is that learners have access to a lot of technology all day, with at least 50 computers available. If learners want to make changes in the school, they can, as long as they do their homework first. Students work in groups to make decisions, like whether to have a volleyball team. Then they present their findings and proposals to the school board.”
“Facilitators” (a.k.a. teachers) also have a slightly different role than in a traditional public school. Instead of lecturing in a class all day long, they teach in a traditional setting less and work and interact with the students in a large community room on group projects.
Bentz noted that the model of the school allows for a considerable sense of ownership. In one recent example, ACLC needed to rework its budget. All constituents of the school were involved in the financial decisions, with many having the chance to access a “SIM budget program to play with.” Students and parents answered surveys, student groups conducted smaller investigations and teachers had their say in an actual final budget, which will be presented to the Governing Board for approval.
Charter schools are not for every student or parent. There is a higher level of participation for both groups and a lower level of direct supervision in some cases. Students work independently and in small groups.
“If your child isn’t self-motivated, or isn’t as interested in a subject, they could slide by in that environment,” said Kate Johnson Stiling, but she hopes that the smaller class size and the tighter community feeling will prevent any disasters with her daughter, Sarah.
Paul Bentz noted that the highest rate of success happens when the learner wants to be there, and isn’t at the school just because his or her parents dictate it.
Sarah, in seventh grade now, enjoys going to ACLC because of the friends she’s made and because of the more flexible schedule. “It gives me time to get my work done,” she said. According to her Mom, Sarah’s grades prove that she’s a learner who’s right on task.
To see if your city has adopted charter school legislation and just where those schools might be, visit www.uscharterschools.org.
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