| Chapter 2: | Background |
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Kennedy (2002) presented six principles for success: (a) strong governance structure, (b) rigorous curriculum, (c) stable faculty and staff, (d) extended day schedule or after-school programs, (e) high parental involvement, and (f) financial and academic accountability. In fact, exemplary sites have been noted by national and state officials as models of excellence. One such charter school is Cali Calmecac, a part of the Windsor Unified School District in Sonoma County. It converted to charter status in 1997 and offers a “dual immersion” program that develops full bilingualism in both groups of students (English only and second language learners) and promotes cross-cultural understanding (Posnick-Goodwin, 2003b).
Recent Research
In 2003, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) released a study providing new data reported by educators of charter schools. Basic resource levels, teacher quality, and support for low-achieving or disabled students were the equity and fairness issues examined. Ethnic composition was also considered when these issues were compared to regular public schools. They found that:
- 1 Start-up charter schools mobilized fewer resources, their teachers earned about $5,000 less in salary, and they employed two and a half more part-time teachers per student than conversion charter schools (74% of all charters in this sample were start-ups).
- 2 Only 4.5% of all charter students received federally funded support as opposed to about 20% of comparable public schools.
- 3 Charters run by private companies relied more heavily on less experienced uncredentialed teachers (2 years less experience and 10% more uncredentialed).
- 4 Only about one-third of charters managed by private companies offered an innovative or specialized curriculum.
- 5 Forty-three percent of teachers in charter schools were uncredentialed, whereas less than 9% were in regular public schools.