School systems must change in order to prepare our children better for the future. When the large bureaucracies operating schools resist needed change, it is the children who suffer the consequences.
The concept of public charter schools has the potential for bringing about this change and should be enthusiastically endorsed by parents and educators.
The reason charter schools have so much potential is that they are the result of a group of concerned adults doing something to improve education instead of complaining and waiting for somebody else to take the lead. Teachers who become involved in the charter school concept are usually creative, dedicated and ready to take risks for the children's sake and for the sake of their profession. They chafe under the status quo because they know what is wrong, have a keen sense of how to correct it and are thwarted from doing so. They often are the backbone of the system and when given this opportunity will take it and fly with it.
In many cases, they are the ones who are perceived by the administration as a threat to the status quo and kept on a "short leash."
Students who attend charter schools are required to meet the same testing and academic standards as other public schools.
Be wary of school officials who give many reasons why charter schools will not work in their districts.
Many administrators discourage new ideas and fear that the charter school concept will diminish their authority.
When Governor Whitman signed the Charter School Program Act of 1995, New Jersey became the 21st state to allow tax dollars to go to chartered, alternative schools.
Students who attend charter schools are required to meet the same testing and academic standards as other public schools. These schools can be established by teachers, parents or combination in conjunction with colleges or private entities. The Charter is granted by the commissioner of education and the school is operated by a board of trustees which is independent of the local boards of education. The board of trustees oversees budgets and curriculum and can hire and fire in accordance with the charter.
More than 250 very different charter schools are in operation across the country. One example of a new approach to learning is found at the Neighborhood House Charter school in Boston.
In this school, there are 16 students in the class and each student has a personal learning plan which lists mastered skills and sets goals and strategies for future learning.
Each also gets a family learning plan that involves the parents in helping their children.
The first charter in New Jersey will probably go to Rutgers University in Camden. This charter will be for Project Leap Academy, which is a science, math and technology school for 500 of Camden's elementary students. The Jersey City Coalition for Alternative Public Schools is seeking authorization for The Community Charter School. This schools goal is to preserve the spirit of community with 90 children from kindergarten to second grade.
Since the new law allows only 135 charter schools in New Jersey, interested parents and other adults might want to act soon.
They could begin by asking their school boards about the possibility of encouraging the opening of charter schools in their district.
Charter Schools would permit parents to have some control and more choice in their children's education. They would work better than vouchers because all charter schools are public schools.
But mainly, they would give creative teachers and concerned parents the opportunity to pool their resources and develop schools which work better for their children.
Charter schools also have the potential to bring about other desirable changes in a rigid system by its domino effect.
Systems as entrenched as the educational system do not change unless forced to do.
First published in 1996
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