The debate between classifying charter schools as public or private is long-running. Despite being privately operated, charter schools are publicly funded, receiving financial support from the same well as traditional schools.
Because they take tax-payer dollars, charter schools are required to remain tuition-free and accept all students regardless of location. According to the Center for Education Reform, more than 7,000 charter schools—from 44 states and Washington, D.C.—together enrolled nearly 3.2 million students as of May 2019. These schools are authorized by a contract, or charter, with the local district or state, but must be able to uphold the agreed upon educational standards or school leaders risk being unable to renew the charter.
For some charter schools, having to hit a high benchmark means a lot of testing. And because charters are free to develop their own curriculum instead of using the state’s, school leaders can change the way their classes work to meet their goals.
At one school in Southern California, testing is taken so seriously that students spend more time practicing than they do learning new subjects.
According to Amber Triffon, a 33-year-old teacher at the Californian school, two days out of the students’ four-day week are completely dedicated to taking practice tests for the state’s exam, the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.
Her students repeatedly take the exact same test to ensure they’ll be able to pass their CAASPP. Another day of the week is spent completing a standards-based test that identify what subjects and skills students need help improving.
“Ideally, I’m supposed to take data from these tests to conduct small groups targeting these skills,” Triffon said. “However, the testing leaves me with three hours per week to actually teach reading, vocabulary, writing, grammar and speaking/listening standards.
“I don’t have time for extensions or enrichments that make learning fun and meaningful. I feel like I’m doing surface teaching rather than getting really in depth with a text because there simply isn’t time,” she said.
This curriculum isn’t just for English and language arts. Triffon says that the same standards are set for math.
“It absolutely takes away from learning opportunities,” Triffon said before explaining that she was looking forward to moving back to a traditional public school setting.
Triffon is not the only teacher with this opinion. Many feel that expectations for their students are set too high.
Of course, these standards differ from school-to-school, district-to-district and state-to-state, depending on local laws.
Other charter schools pick an emphasis, such as fine arts or engineering. Some even serve as testing grounds for teachers to develop curriculums tailored to fit students with special needs or medical issues.
Education leaders at City Academy High School, which opened in 1992 as the nation’s first charter school, claim to target at-risk students for enrollment. This group includes children who are currently unenrolled, falling behind or are at risk of dropping out. The school also enrolls students after they’ve been released from juvenile correctional facilities.
City Academy isn’t the only charter school to enroll students like this. In fact, many teachers and education advocates, including critics like Triffon, praise charter schools for giving underrepresented students in low-income neighborhoods the opportunity to receive a quality education, whereas their local, district school may not have enough funding to support all of its students.
“I think families have that choice and students have the right to a learning environment that fits them,” Shannon Gossard, a business leader at a Colorado charter school, said.
Gossard, 30, explained that her school has a fine arts focus. It functions similarly to magnet schools—traditional public schools with an emphasis in areas such as performing arts, forensics and advanced placement courses. And while students from all over Larimer County, CO are welcome to enroll at her school, students interested in a magnet school must cut through a lot of red tape to receive permission to attend a school outside their district.
A representative from the U.S. Department of Education stated that Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Secretary of Education, believes that schools and education are not one-size-fits all.
“Secretary DeVos has a strong Education Freedom agenda, which means she believes every student should have the right to choose the educational pathway that best fits their unique needs,” they said.
Just last month, DeVos told education reformers at an American Enterprise Institute panel that the element of freedom was key, saying it “isn’t about elevating one type of school over another.”
Others feel differently, claiming that charter schools take money away from public schools that are already struggling to stay afloat. In the 2015–16 school year, elementary and public schools had expenses totaling $706 billion in constant 2017–18 dollars, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Of that, $316 million came from local sources—investments or education agencies dedicated to fundraising—indicating that government funding may not be quite enough. Over the last two years, teachers across the nation have been striking, demanding pay raises as compensation for the school supplies that they pay for out of their own pocket.
“Charter schools have to up their game to appeal to parents and public schools have to do the same since they are both fighting for the money,” Triffon said, citing the need for atmospheres and environments that foster student growth, not ones relying on test scores. “It’s important that they have a well-made curriculum and appropriate oversight.”