What is a charter school?

[ja mama]

And how do I find more info on them. Perhaps even a list of local ones, teachers credentials, class sizes, cost, cultural/financial diversity...

Thank you so much!

[Artisan]

A charter school is a public school that is outside of the traditional school district. So they accept public funding but do not necessarily have to follow all of the same rules as a public school. Sort of like a public private school. Every state has their own rules about them. I have taught in a state where charter schools thrive (in fact, I taught in one), and now teach in a state where they are all but illegal.

Here's a link to the charter schools in your state. http://www.ode.state.or.us/cifs/charterschools/

[zaadad]

I currently teach in a charter school in florida (http://www.mckeelacademy.com) ...the way I explain it to people is that it is a public school w/ all of the benefits of a private school. We have to follow state mandated law (standardized testing, etc..), but we don't have to follow the "law" set up by our county school board. We set our own budgets, design our own classes, and ask students to leave if they are not measuring up to our standards. We have higher graduation standards than the other schools in the county.

As a teacher, I love it b/c we are given more freedom with our resources, we are actually encouraged to take our kids on trips and field trips.

A charter school usually is targeting a particular field--for example, our charter focuses on life in the professional world, elementary and ms reinforce that theme and then when the students get to highschool they must choose a career cluster (like a college major) that they will study in for their remaining 4 years. Our school currently offers engineering, journalism, business, culinary arts (only in the middle school), health, and tv/video production. My wife taught at a charter school whose charter was written to help teen mothers. The students would come to school w/ their babies and take family wellness classes along w/ their academic classes.

Each charter school usually sets its own pay scale, teacher requirements, etc. The best thing to do would be use your states doe website.

hope this info helps,
CR

[Mama Lori]

My son goes to a charter school that is a Waldorf school. It functions the same as a public school in terms of teacher credentials, it's free, etc., but it has a Waldorf curriculum. It's a great school!! We love it. In fact, we like it better than the private Waldorf school in our area (many people have moved over from it). Charter schools require a lot of parent involvement, and good people on the board and a good director to make sure it gets the public money it deserves.