Charter Schools vs. Public Schools in Education

Complete a review of internet, newspaper, educational journals, and magazine articles that speak about the pros and cons of both charter and public schools. This course is an issues course and its intent is to walk away with an understanding of critical thought regarding important issues in science education. This topic is very polarized among the educational community, politicians, and the public.

Write a report that answers the following questions:

• What is the difference between private charter, public charter, parochial, and public schools?
• Who owns a charter school? A public school? A public charter school?
• Why are charter schools so difficult to define?
• Is it true that charter schools like IDEA have a 100% graduation rate?
• How does a charter school differ from a magnet school?
• How would you classify South Texas ISD? What is its mission and purpose? Who benefits?
• Where did the charter school movement start? What was the intent?
• What does the U.S. Constitution say about public school education?
• What is the role of the government in funding and providing policy for public, charter, and parochial schools?
• What is NCLB? ESEA? How do the two compare?
• What type of schools have the greatest impact on student achievement in the U.S.? Korea? Finland? Norway? Canada?
• What is the stance of the different political parties toward public, private, and charter school education?
• What is the history and support for vouchers? What is the belief about vouchers from the lower, middle, and upper class?
• Explain how charter and public schools are assessed? How they are closed?
• Look at the posts and read some of the content on these two blogs: Fuller Talk and Diane Ravitch's Blog. 
• Summarize your report by describing what you learned about different school structures (public charter, private charter, parochial, and public schools).