REVOLUTIONARY REFORM IDEA CELEBRATED
Week to Highlight Charter Schools’ Transformative Effects
CER Press Release
Washington, D.C.
May 7, 2012
Across the nation, schools, policy leaders, parents and communities are gathering to celebrate National Charter Schools Week. This public school reform has had more impact on revolutionizing public education than any other single effort in history.
“Charters cause a transformative effect on children, families, communities and state policy,” said Jeanne Allen, president of The Center for Education Reform. “Because of their impact, not only are they propelling student achievement forward for the 2 million children in them, but charter schools are also causing traditional education to act and react in dramatic ways.”
From Los Angeles to Chicago and Michigan to Florida, charter schools are the cause of new blended learning opportunities becoming more mainstream in conventional public schools. Union contract reforms got their start from charter schools showing how teacher freedom and flexibility improves student achievement. Parental choice has expanded through numerous sectors because charter schools demonstrated that choice empowers parents and improves all other schools.
Throughout its 20 year long history, charter schools have proven to those who once said poverty was an excuse for failure that everyone can learn if given the right environment that personalizes the learning process.
Despite the impact, the public remains largely unaware of the importance of this revolutionary reform effort and how it works. The fact that charter schools are public schools, free from much bureaucracy and permitted to innovate is not common knowledge. Charter Schools Week is devoted to growing awareness of this important reform.
Several resources are available to help create better understanding:
