Quality and accountability are the foundation of high performing charter schools.

For much of the first decade of charter schooling, the primary focus was on the quantity of new schools that were opening each year. Not that charter supporters weren’t also concerned about the quality of these innovative public schools, but they were more focused on getting as many charters open as possible, particularly given the strong demand for new public schooling opportunities in our nation’s urban districts.

Over the past few years, though, an increasing number of charter supporters – from parents to teachers to state legislators to national leaders – have come to realize that if chartering is to thrive, and move beyond the margin to the mainstream of public education, quality must be elevated to the highest priority. The charter movement must look inward at its schools, authorizers, state associations, and beliefs and habits of mind, so that nothing gets in the way of pursuing higher student achievement.

While other issues also need to be addressed – such as the discrepancy in funding between charters and non-charters – charter supporters must understand and acknowledge that nothing will affect charter schools’ future success more than the movement’s commitment to quality and the actions that it is willing to take to ensure that charter schools take responsibility for their students’ success.

That’s why the Alliance convened a Task Force on Charter School Quality and Accountability, comprised largely of individuals who have founded and led exemplary charter schools, to provide a “road map” toward a future of growth in high-quality charters. Their findings and recommendations were released in August 2005, in a report entitled “Renewing the Compact.” The Task Force’s work undergirds much of the Alliance’s current agenda.

Charter Achievement

Are public charter schools working? Admittedly, the diversity of charter schools within and across states makes it tough to answer this question. Still, a recent meta-analysis produced by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools concluded that the “existence of high quality charter schools and high growth rates for charter schools, at least in many states and studies, suggests that chartering holds promise as an approach to getting better schools. What we have is an experiment worth continuing—and refining.”

While test results are critical indicators of success, additional factors should also be considered when assessing the overall performance of public charter schools. One such factor is student, parent, and teacher satisfaction with public charter schools. In one of the most consistent findings about charters, survey after survey have shown high levels of satisfaction among students, parents, and teachers regarding their charter schools.

Another factor to consider when examining charter performance is how well charters are achieving their mission-related goals. For example, some charters focus on serving student populations currently under-served in the community, such as teen parents, dropouts, or gifted and talented students. Others seek to offer a schooling approach, such as Montessori, different from the local public schools. Aspects of such mission-related goals can be measured via retention, graduation, and college-acceptance rates, disciplinary incidents, and waiting lists.