About Charter Schools

Charter schools are public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. They truly blend the best of private schooling and a public education. Today, more than one million students are enrolled at about 3,500 charter schools throughout the U.S.

Why Do So Many Parents Choose Charter Schools?

• Personal attention.
  Charter schools typically have smaller class sizes; teachers are therefore able to give each child more individualized attention.
• Higher academic standards.
  Charter schools are required to demonstrate increased student achievement in order to keep their charter contracts and remain open. This level of accountability, which is simply not seen in traditional public schools, results in improved student performance.
• Less bureaucracy.
  Charter schools do not have the many levels of bureaucracy found in traditional public school districts. This allows charter schools to be more nimble and to respond quicker to the needs of parents, teachers, and students.
• Better organizational structure.
  Charter schools' organizational structure also results in more control over such areas as personnel, curriculum, budget, discipline, organization of classes and grade levels, and length of the school day and year.

These are just a few of the reasons why in a recent statewide survey, 42% of charter school parents gave their school an "A," a figure that was twice as high as the number of public-school parents who gave the same grade to their school (21%).