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Charters and School Choice - Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Time: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
“I have visited successful charter schools all across America—in farm country, the inner city, and everywhere in between…They’re dispelling the myth that some students cannot learn and proving that if we raise the academic achievement bar, our students will rise to the challenge.”
-U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
All parents want a quality education for their children. Regardless of what they earn or where they live, all parents want to send their children to schools that have high expectations and high standards. And when schools fall short of these standards, families deserve to be given choices.
The good news is, today parents have more choices than ever— they can choose from neighborhood schools, charter schools or other public schools of choice, or transfer their children to another public school in or out of district. Families can also select private schools, either religious or secular, or teach their children at home. Free tutoring programs are also available to families with students in certain low-performing schools. No Child Left Behind and the rapid growth of the charter school movement; the increasing number of states enacting voucher, scholarship, and tax credit programs; and the expansion of privately funded scholarship programs for low-income children have all expanded the choices available to families.
Charter schools, in particular, have become increasingly appealing to parents, and for good reason—as laboratories for new educational strategies, these flexible schools improve education for everyone in the system and offer innovative places for children to achieve at their highest possible levels. The number of charters has grown from about 2,000 nationwide in 2001 to nearly 4,000 today, an 11 percent increase over last year. In Washington, DC, the first-ever federally funded opportunity scholarship program is now giving 1,800 low-income students the chance to attend the school of their choice.
Still, the demand for more choices and change is growing. That’s why the President's 2008 education budget proposes $500 million to help states turn around the performance of chronically underperforming schools, and $300 million to provide new options, including public and private school choice in the form of Promise and Opportunity Scholarships, for students in those underperforming schools. The April edition of Education News will highlight these proposals, as well as successful charter and school choice programs, as educators, policymakers and parent-leaders discuss key issues such as:
- What are the latest tools and options for parents under No Child Left Behind?
- How has the charter school and school choice movement impacted academic achievement? What does a high-performing choice program or charter school look like?
- If a child is attending a school “in need of improvement,” where does a parent go to find out information on school choice options and free tutoring providers?
- What are Opportunity Scholarships and how might they benefit parents whose children attend chronically underperforming schools?
- What kinds of new choice initiatives can parents look forward to under No Child Left Behind?
- What resources does the Department provide to inform parents about the full range of options available to them under the law?
Disclaimer
Programs produced by the U.S. Department of Education are in the public domain. Use, duplication, and distribution are free and unrestricted. Thank You!
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