Charter Schools: Pass or Fail - Essay Example

In 1991, Michigan passed a law that intended to reform the educational system, thus the charter schools were created (Finn et al., 2001; Brouillette, 2002). This law did not only present an innovative reform but also gave a new perspective to the public education system. It also presented the advantage of providing more alternatives for parents and students (Finn et al., 2001). However, even from the very beginning, charter schools were not very well understood (Hill, Lake, Celio, 2002). This resulted to controversies on its efficiency to perform within the charters of the school and within the district and state standards.

Policy makers and journalist often portrayed them this movement as many different things (Hill et al., 2002, p.1). This is apparent on the relatively disparate opinions and results found in charter school literature. Because of the heterogeneous views on charter schools, it has become one of the least understood and most debatable phenomenon in the American education system (Hill et al., 2002). Since 1991, interest on this movement has caused the growth of charter schools from zero to a few thousand schools today in 40 states (Center for Education Reform [CER], 2007; US Charter Schools, n.d.).

Along with this growth in number were combined successes and failures which often refute the system as an ineffective alternative to public education. Further, this lead to the division of opinions, causing the formation of groups that were supporting and opposing the radical innovations that charter schools offer (Finn, et. al., 2001; Hill et. al., 2002). The charter school program is one of the least understood enterprises in America's educational system (Hill et al., 2002). Due to variations of definition, many people could hardly pin down its exact meaning and functions.

In this research, the working definition of the charter school shall be: An independent school system within the broader scope of the public system which has a relative degree of autonomy in its operations and decision-making but is accountable for results based on the charter or the contract of the school.