{"id":1663,"date":"2011-09-26T15:09:21","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T19:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=1663"},"modified":"2012-06-06T14:06:18","modified_gmt":"2012-06-06T18:06:18","slug":"a-stateimpact-florida-series-do-charter-schools-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/09\/26\/a-stateimpact-florida-series-do-charter-schools-work\/","title":{"rendered":"A StateImpact Florida Series: Do Charter Schools Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1665\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Charter schools are championed by much of state leadership, including Gov. Rick Scott and Florida lawmakers.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/09\/107906353.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1665\" title=\"New Florida Governor Rick Scott  Visits Charter School\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/09\/107906353-300x214.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/09\/107906353-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/09\/107906353-220x157.jpg 220w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/09\/107906353.jpg 594w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Raedle \/ Getty News Images<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charter schools are championed by legislative leaders and Gov. Rick Scott, shown here in January visiting Florida International Academy in Opa Locka.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>For 15 years Florida has conducted an<a href=\"http:\/\/www.floridaschoolchoice.org\/Information\/charter_schools\/\"> experiment<\/a> in public education.<\/p>\n<p>The goal was to improve the entire education system by granting charter schools more leeway to innovate.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to StateImpact Florida\u2019s Charter Schools 101 series examining the effect those schools have had on students, teachers, parents and communities &#8212; and what comes next.<\/p>\n<p>One in every 17 Florida students <a href=\"http:\/\/www.floridaschoolchoice.org\/Information\/charter_schools\/files\/fast_facts_charter_schools.pdf\">attends a charter school<\/a> and enrollment has tripled over the past decade.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Independently managed but publicly funded, charter schools are a key alternative for parents or students unhappy with their neighborhood district public school. More 154,000 students attended 459 charter schools during the past school year, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.floridaschoolchoice.org\/Information\/charter_schools\/\">Department of Education Statistics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Charter schools often offer specialized curriculum, such as <a href=\"http:\/\/brandon.patch.com\/events\/new-charter-school-for-downtown-commuters-channelside-academy-of-math-and-science-parent-information-meetings\">math<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodcharter.org\/\">science<\/a> or the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.miamiartscharter.net\/\">arts<\/a>. The schools are required to follow many <a href=\"http:\/\/www.floridaschoolchoice.org\/information\/charter_schools\/charter_statutes.asp\">state and federal regulations<\/a>, but also have more flexibility to change staff or curriculum than district schools.<\/p>\n<p>Over the next few weeks we\u2019ll be producing a series of online and broadcast stories answering questions about Florida\u2019s charter schools:<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the history and types of charter schools?<\/p>\n<p>Who is a charter school student and how should parents choose a charter school?<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/12\/16\/five-questions-about-disabilities-law-answered\/\">Five Questions About Charter Schools And Disabilities Law<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/12\/14\/no-choice-florida-charter-schools-failing-to-serve-students-with-disabilities\/\">No Choice: Florida Charter Schools Failing To Serve Students With Disabilities<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/09\/29\/q-a-charter-school-usa-ceo-jonathon-hage\/\">Q &amp; A: Charter Schools USA CEO Jonathon Hage<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/09\/28\/from-minnesota-to-miami-the-history-of-florida-charter-schools\/\">From Minnesota to Miami: The History of Florida Charter Schools<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/09\/27\/the-three-types-of-florida-charter-schools\/\">The Three Types of Florida Charter Schools<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/09\/107906481-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/topic\/charter-schools\/\">What to Know About Florida Charter Schools<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>What rules must charter schools abide by?<\/p>\n<p>Who runs charter schools and how much money is involved?<\/p>\n<p>How are charter schools performing?<\/p>\n<p>Along the way we\u2019ll introduce you to people such as Michele Gill, a University of Central Florida education professor, who helped <a href=\"http:\/\/www.galileogiftedschool.org\/\">found a charter school<\/a> this year and what she has learned from the experience.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll meet Jonathan Hage,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.charterschoolsusa.com\/\"> CEO of one of the largest for-profit charter school companies<\/a>. Hage helped write Florida\u2019s first charter school law, and his company, Charter Schools USA, is now <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/indiana\/2011\/08\/26\/meet-your-new-boss-charter-schools-usa\/\">assisting Indiana<\/a> with three low-performing schools taken over by the state.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll learn what charter schools ask of students, parents and teachers and how that&#8217;s different from district schools.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll see how charter schools market themselves to attract students and parents in a crowded market.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve got our questions, but we\u2019d like to hear yours as well. Add your story ideas and questions in the comments or shoot us an email over the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For 15 years Florida has conducted an experiment in public education. The goal was to improve the entire education system by granting charter schools more leeway to innovate. Welcome to StateImpact Florida\u2019s Charter Schools 101 series examining the effect those schools have had on students, teachers, parents and communities &#8212; and what comes next. One [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":1665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[1035,1036,1009,1019,1028,67,1026,1027,1052,1008,1018,1006,19,1015],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}