Charter school makes education cheaper and easily accessible for any student as they are availed with to a computer and internet. This makes the education cheaper for the government. Unfortunately, the charter system has shown lower success rates for students. The learners may favor its convenience but it is ineffective as it lacks tutor regulation and monitoring (Mann & Baker, 2019). The growth and learning rate is low for regular learners, though it is advantageous to students living with physical and learning disabilities. The charter school affects public schools by reducing their revenue and reducing their population (Mann & Baker, 2019). This further strains their ability to improve infrastructure and service delivery. Digital learning in public schools has better educational outcomes.
Critics argue that public schools are better than charter schools while supporters applaud charter schools. Public schools are preferred by some because of the traditional comfort of a school system with a fixed curricula and other teaching norms. Parents and guardians also favor this system because it removes the aspect of home based care that is necessary in charter schools. The public school system also has higher graduation rates and more timely completion within set time (Owens, 2016). Thus the flexibility of the charter school may work against its progress, and successful completion rate.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Some parents are of the opinion that charter schools are inaccessible. Administrators of charter schools dispute this claims by claiming that all children are welcome and cannot be denied (Mann & Baker, 2019). Charter schools are not autonomous in student selection because they are run by government just like public schools. This includes the distribution of special students. They however have an enrollment period where parents must submit their application on behalf of their child. Preferences apply in the case of siblings attending the same school. There are some accusations of favoritism by using performance based selection instead of lottery (Mann & Baker, 2019). Many also argue that disadvantaged students may be locked out during the lottery. This has different effects in different charter schools.
Charter schools can assist public schools as they are able to experiment with different aspects. This flexibility serves as a research facility where public schools can adopt programs that work. Charter schools also offer public schools some much needed competition (Mann & Baker, 2019). This makes public schools work harder to improve their facilities in order to attain better outcomes (Finn et al., 2017). Public schools benefit from charter schools when they make the structure of public school more effective. The threat of replacement changes effort into results faster. Some of the poorest performing schools have made remarkable improvement this way.
Charter schools offer diversity to the students because of the lottery system of admission. The students also have an added advantage because the parents are able to choose what suits them. This is unlike public schools which are limited in curriculum and choice. A student is able to specialize earlier on in life and thus make focused educational decisions (Owens, 2016). The smaller class sizes in charter schools improve student outcomes and help in meeting learning goals. Students from charter schools develop greater independence faster as a result.
While students from public schools enjoy facilities such as free transport, some parents with children in charter schools may have to pay. These are some of the additional costs that are associated with charter schools. Charter schools may use unconventional methods of teaching that some parents may not condone. They may also be lax and avoid some standards in order to save money. Public schools are more bound to these regulations because they are under government regulation and monitoring. Charter schools have a higher autonomy thus they may use all means necessary to maintain their performance results.
References
Finn, C. Manno, B. & Wright, B. (2017). The Purpose of Charter Schools. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2017-05-08/how-charter-schools-improve-traditional-district-education
Mann, B. & Baker, D. (2019). Do cyber charter schools harm public education for the most disadvantaged? BROOKINGS. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2019/06/24/do-cyber-charter-schools-harm-public-education-for-the-most-disadvantaged/
Owens, A. (2016). Charter schools aren’t necessarily better than traditional public schools. EDVOCATE. Retrieved from https://www.theedadvocate.org/charter-schools-arent-necessarily-better-than-traditional-public-schools/
