The best written laws and most equitable funding formulas cannot alone create thriving charter schools - it also takes a healthy dose of public awareness. A new CER study released today, America's Attitudes Toward Charter Schools, demonstrates that public support for charters continues to grow. Greater awareness breeds greater support for charter schools. A look at four years of CER's state and national polling shows that the public knowledge of charters has grown only by a small margin over time, but that knowledge breeds support.
In a Nationwide Survey of Adults on Charter Schools...
CER commissioned a poll to find answers to those important fundamental questions and found that while Americans lack a clear understanding about the nature, purpose and "charter” of charter schools,they solidly support several of the key principles that govern charters, such as:
- allowing communities to come together to form schools to meet the needs of their children;
- linking teacher pay to student performance;
- granting schools flexibility to set their own educational standards (so long as they meet government standards); and
- giving parents the option of sending their children to a number of different public schools, not just the one to which they are assigned.
Accountability, Standards and Innovation
These were the top three words that summarized the findings. Respondents demand meaningful and
measurable change to the current education system and are open to new ideas - but insist that schools produce results and comply with reasonable rules and guidelines.
State-by-State Highlights
California:
Seventy-one percent of respondents (vs. 69 percent nationally) preferred having choices of schools other than the one to which a child is assigned based on where the child lives.
Connecticut:
Twenty-six percent of respondents (vs. 20 percent nationally) correctly identified charter schools as "public" schools when asked to pick from a list that also included private, religious or parochial, and magnet schools.
Georgia:
Sixty-two percent of respondents (vs. 59 percent nationally) supported the concept of "considering student performance when deciding how to compensate teachers" and agreed with the idea that "a teacher whose students actually perform well would receive a higher salary and additional financial rewards."
Missouri:
Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they would be very or somewhat likely to move their child out of a school if the child felt unsafe.
New Jersey:
The words "Accountability" and "Innovation" resonated most with respondents being viewed favorably by 88 percent and 82 percent of respondents respectively.
New York:
Seventy-one percent of respondents supported "allowing communities to create new public schools - called charter schools - that would be held accountable for student results and would be required to meet the same academic standards/testing requirements as other public schools but not cost taxpayers additional money."
Wyoming:
Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed feel that more than one group (beyond local school boards) should have the authority to create charter schools.
What It All Means
Only a quarter to a third of Americans can correctly identify a charter school as a public school - let alone describe the basic tenants of the charter school concept or accurately differentiate a charter's operation from that of conventional public, private or parochial school.
Yet upwards of three-quarters of the public support the concept of "allowing communities to create new public schools - called charter schools - that would be held accountable for student results and would be required to meet the same academic standards/testing requirements as other public schools but not cost taxpayers additional money."
Polling provides insights into issues that cannot be divined in the simple win-loss equation of an election. While charter school initiatives often fail on the ballot, post-election surveys reveal that with a full, clear and unbiased understanding of charter schools, citizens support their formation. The study also shows that people tend to be more aware of - and supportive of - charter schools in states with strong charter laws, while states with weak laws tend to marginalize the issue of educational choice.
Click here for the complete report.
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The Center for Education Reform (CER) drives the creation of better educational opportunities for all children. CER changes laws, minds and cultures to allow good schools to flourish. For more information visit www.edreform.com or call 800-521-2118.
