Gone are the days when parents were limited to the option of taking their kids to the neighborhood public school and the unaffordable private school. There are more options for parents to choose from depending on the needs of their children. Today, parents have the chance to choose between charter schools, magnet schools, home-based schools, and online schools. However, the charter school has been attracting significant attention over the last few years.
What is a charter school?
A charter school is a publicly funded but a privately run school. The government provides money to a charter school the same way it provides to district schools. However, unlike district schools, a charter school has autonomy and flexibility operations, which means that it is not subjected to the rules and regulations governing public schools. Charter schools have proved to be reliable public school alternatives because they have a considerable number of benefits.
1. Reduced Class Size
Public school alternative schools have the autonomy of controlling the size of their classes. This explains why most of the charter schools have a reduced class size as compared to public schools. With a reduced number of students in the classroom, teachers can provide a one-on-one learning experience with each student. This helps the teachers to eliminate simple weaknesses from the students thereby enhancing their academic performance.
2. Ability to Specialize
Although high school alternatives are supposed to adhere to the general rules governing schools in the United States, they still have the autonomy of deciding what their students will learn. This explains why most of them specialize in a particular area. You will find a high school alternative specializing in technology, science, performance arts or languages. This gives students the chance to specialize in what they want and also prepare for a career path in advance.
3. Greater Accountability
Questions of accountability and responsibility will always be directed towards public facilities. However, GED alternatives are required by the government to be accountable to the resources they receive a failure to which they risk closing. This makes the schools to be run professionally and with high levels of accountability. It is important to highlight that charter schools are also accountable to the community as well as failure to which they will not get students.
4. Customization
It is very difficult to customize learning in traditional public schools across the country. Classes have a considerable number of students each with specific needs. However, charter schools have a limited number of students in a particular class. They can easily customize their teaching methodology to meet the specific needs of their students. This explains why it is highly recommended for parents to consider charter schools. Some even have time to formulate a learning methodology that is tailor-made to meet the needs of a single student.
5. Diverse Student Population
Some critics believe that charter schools segregate students through a flawed selection process. However, that is not the truth. Charter schools are open to all, and they admit students through a transparent admission strategy that does not discriminate against any students about performance, gender, ethnicity or religion. For a fact, it is the traditional public schools that have less diverse student population because they accommodate students from the neighborhood. Students in charter schools get to interact and integrate with other students from different ethnicity and cultural upbringing.
6. Encourage Innovation
Due to the high levels of specialization in Charter schools, there are high chances of innovation. Students focus on a particular subject, which means that they get material facts in a certain area, which is a recipe for innovation. Over the last few years, charter schools have recorded a considerable number of innovations as compared to traditional public schools. If you feel your student is scientifically oriented, you can take them to an accelerated charter high school where their innovation skills will be harnessed and polished.
These benefits explain why a considerable number of students are currently being enrolled in charter schools. Recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Education indicated that more than 3 million students were enrolled in charter schools in the 2015-2016 school year. This number has significantly increased from the 1.8 million students admitted to charter schools five years ago.