Education Week - August 24, 2016 - 29

Chartering Must Cultivate
Academic Choice

PRESIDENT & CEO Michele J. Givens
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Gregory Chronister

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

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Getty

prise Institute study of charters in 17 cities found roughly equal
numbers of more progressive models and no-excuses schools.
(Plenty of other charters fit neither category.)
Poor kids need those options, too, but they're not the only
pupil population that can benefit from charters. In the years
ahead, we believe chartering should plant many seeds and cultivate many crops. It's a flexible instrument that can address
all manner of needs and opportunities. What about more highquality career-and-technical-education charters, or charters for
gifted and talented students? (More than 100 charter schools
now focus on children with disabilities.) Charters for art enthusiasts? Personalized-learning charters that take advantage
of digital options to let kids proceed through the curriculum at
their own pace? More charters for youthful offenders and former
offenders? Schools just for girls and just for boys? For athletes
or classicists? Character-and-civics-centric charters? Schools
for rural residents? For kids whose posh but rigid suburban districts don't meet their needs? More teacher-led schools?
Since it was first conceived, chartering has held the capacity
to develop new structures for delivering and governing public
education. We look to the next decade or two for chartering to
pilot new delivery systems, structures, and governance arrangements, as have already begun to emerge via networks like KIPP
and Aspire and in cities like Washington, Denver, Indianapolis,
and New Orleans. We also look to chartering to continue innovating at the system level with respect to staffing, technology,
governance, and curriculum.
Enabling such a future will call for imagination and flexibility on many fronts, including changes in chartering's statutory
and regulatory environment, as well as new approaches to accountability and parent information. There's also a need for more
careful attention to sensitive issues of community engagement,
human capital, and race. It's a tall order but one that, if properly
filled, will benefit millions more youngsters. As we observe the
present anniversary, let us celebrate chartering's past but not
be confined by it. Bona fide school choice means plenty of different options, and chartering is the surest mechanism in America
today to make these options available. Let's use it to the max. n

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Education Week - August 24, 2016

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