Pros and Cons of Charter Schools Research Paper

Pros and Cons of Charter Schools - Research Paper Example A good way to obtain a good idea of a charter school is to consider its characteristics compared to the public school based on school size, grade-level configuration, student-to-teacher ratio, and student-to-computer ratio (Beryl et al.). In 1997 to 1998, the average size of charter school was 137 students and more than 400 for the public school in the same year (Feinberg 156). Though there is a significant increase in number, the same trend today is followed, by which charter schools have substantially small number of students and public schools have even more. Regarding the grade-level configuration, charter schools are given by the State laws the freedom to choose the grade structure and the age range of the students they will serve (RPP International 22). A certain study reveals that the student-to-ratio in low-performing charter schools is approximately 17 to 1, compared to approximately 15 to 1 in acceptable-performing charter schools (Burds 104). Intuitively, these ratios are lower compared to the prevailing ratios in comparable schools. There may be or no significant difference when it comes to student-to-computer ratio between charters schools and public schools, it is evident that students at charter schools are using computers extensively (Hill 16; RPP International 26). These characteristics are also significant indicators of learning. With this in mind for consideration, charter schools may be advantageous when it comes to learning compared to public schools because of the associated innovation in education. Aside from that, learning must be significantly of more interactive value in charter schools than in public schools because of the engagement of parents and teachers with the students’ actual academic performance. This will provide a more... This report stresses that one inherent manifestation of charter schools is their ability to allow teachers, parents and students to have strong involvement and participation together in order to ensure high rate of academic achievement and excellent academic performance. With this given information, one might consider that there are many things to be taken into account as great with charter schools. However, this does not mean that charter schools may not have some other important drawbacks. In order to make a clear justification of point regarding these two conflicting issues, the work at hand presents the pros and cons of charter schools and investigates if the former may have surpass the latter. This paper makes a conclusion that prior to the main objective of this paper, the need to consider the other sheer characteristics of a charter school is a better way to understand its advantages and probable linked disadvantages. A good way to obtain a good idea of a charter school is to consider its characteristics compared to the public school based on school size, grade-level configuration, student-to-teacher ratio, and student-to-computer ratio. Regarding the grade-level configuration, charter schools are given by the State laws the freedom to choose the grade structure and the age range of the students they will serve. Students in charter schools will have more exposure to modern information technology, which is evident in the student-to-computer ratio.