Benefits and Successes

Charter schools are public schools that are open to all students, regardless of income, race, or religion. They are independently designed and operated and committed to improving the academic achievement of all children. Today, over 1.5 million children in 39 states and the District of Columbia attend one of more than 4,900 public charter schools.

As schools of choice, charter schools are highly responsive to the needs of students and communities, charter schools are extremely appealing to families from all backgrounds, particularly those dissatisfied with their neighborhood traditional public school.

Many families choose a charter school because of its innovative curriculum, others because of its focus on academic achievement, and still other because it offers a promising alternative to an underperforming traditional public school. And while the reasons may differ for each person who chooses a charter school, the results universally are becoming more and more clear; charter schools are producing impressive academic results as documented in our meta anaylsis of charter school research, Charter School Achievement: What We Know.

Every year, more and more charters schools develop, and in many areas waiting lists are growing longer by the day. Currently, there are over 365,000 children on charter school waiting lists nationally. It's no wonder that charter schools are widely considered the most exciting and promising education reform in the last generation.