Charter Schools: Creating Hope and Opportunity for American Education (Jossey Bass Education Series) - Hardcover

Unresponsive and bureaucratic are two words that parents, educators, and legislators often use to describe our public education system. Frustrated by having their ideas ignored and their skills neither recognized nor rewarded, thousands of educators and parents are taking matters into their own hands and obtaining charters to create a new kind of public school. Charter schools are supported by taxes and required to produce measurable gains in student achievement, or else close. They operate indepAndent of most district and state regulation--cutting through the bureaucratic nightmare that often accompanies school restructuring. Thoughtful, fair competition, so central to the charter idea, is turning out to give school boards a run for their money.Based on nationwide surveys, research, and visits to dozens of charter schools, award-winning former public school educator Joe Nathan addresses the key questions about these revolutionary schools. Who starts charter schools? What kind of students attAnd? Are charter schools using ideas and techniques other schools can and should learn from? Are these schools actually helping students? Are charter schools having an impact on the larger system?Nathan's book also explains why both liberals and conservatives, including people who oppose vouchers, support the charter approach. He describes the key elements of the charter idea and explains how it differs from strategies like magnet schools, vouchers and site management.Charter Schools also discusses key lessons learned in the brief history of this movement--from the intense 1991 battle that produced the nation's first charter law in Minnesota to frequent attempts by school boards and teacher unions to block or weaken charter legislation in their states. He also shows that some school boards and unions are learning how the charter idea can help them accomplish their goals.The author provides valuable advice to those thinking of starting a new school or converting

?A useful and persuasive description of the `state of the art' of charter school foundations by one of the movement's earliest, most articulate, and best informed advocates.?--Theodore R. Sizer, chairman, Coalition of Essential SchoolsBased on nationwide surveys, research, and visits to dozens of charter schools, award-winning former public school educator Joe Nathan addresses the key questions about these revolutionary schools. Who starts charter schools? What kind of students attAnd? Are charter schools using ideas and techniques other schools can and should learn from? Are these schools actually helping students? Are charter schools having an impact on the larger system?Nathan's book describes the key elements of the charter idea and explains how it differs from strategies like magnet schools, vouchers and site management. The author provides valuable advice to those thinking of starting a new school or converting an existing school. And he includes a wealth of resources about individual state charter laws, contact people, online resources, and more.