Twelve studies find that overall gains in charter schools are larger than other public schools; four find charter schools’ gains higher in certain significant categories of schools; six find comparable gains; and, four find that charter schools’ overall gains lagged behind traditional schools.
Source: Charter School Achievement: What We Know, July 2005 Update
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http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/27100239.html
This article, written by James Forman Jr., cofounder of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School and a professor at Georgetown Law School, examines how public charter schools can reach out and meet the needs of students who have been behind in school, had been suspended or expelled, or are in the juvenile justice system. The author examines how Maya Angelou Public Charter School in Washington D.C. successfully educates these types of students. The steps include high expectations, providing a rich, robust, and relevant curriculum (with lessons focused on essential skills, content, and questions, and a combination of direct instruction and project-based, cooperative learning in every class) and building and retaining trust. Measuring progress in alternative public charter schools can be a challenge. Few assessments measure a child’s academic growth over time, or enable educators to compare academic growth with students elsewhere. For now the Maya Angelou PCS is relying on postsecondary participation and completion rates to see what positive impact the school has made on the lives of students. Early data show that the schools' students, despite struggling with academic deficits, outperform their peers after graduation. The author calls for more public charter schools like Maya Angelou PCS, "places of hope, of learning, of caring."
Date: 2008
Source: Hoover Institution, Stanford University
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