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Paper Abstract: Development of Charter Schools as a product of educational reforms. Contemporary broad view of curriculum & its place in reform. Defines Charter Schools. Discusses studies on whether or not Charter School curriculum is superior to public school curriculum. Presents pro and con evidence. Discusses issues, goals, instructional strategies, challenges, obstacles, successes & funding. Paper Introduction: CURRICULUM: A COMPARISON OF PUBLIC AND CHARTER SCHOOLS Introduction According to Ornstein and Hunkins (1993, p.9), curriculum can be defined as, "...a plan for action or a written document that includes strategies for achieving desired goals or ends." However, the authors note that the foregoing definition is a very technical one and that, over the years, the general notion of curriculum has expanded to include any policy or learning strategy or even resources such as books, technologies and so forth which are pertinent to the learning experiences of students. So long as it is planned, most anything in any given school is now considered part of the curriculum. In other words, a more expanded and contemporary view of curriculum is that the term refers to the planned learning experiences of students under Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. A public school cannot do this due to its widediversity of students and often insufficient funds. Other obstacles are related to roles and relationships. Howcharter schools are different: Lessons and implications from a nationalstudy. (1996). (June 1999). Further, at many public schools,all too often instructional methods used to teach basic curriculum are sonew that no research has even established that they work (Wiser, 1999). V., & Bierlein, L. Examination of the existing research pertinent to this questionindicated that arguments can be made both for the superiority of charterschools and against it. Approvalguidelines can promote an "us-versus-them" mentality by requiring charterschools to argue they can offer an alternative and implicitly "superior"educational setting for district students. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. In other words, a more expanded andcontemporary view of curriculum is that the term refers to the plannedlearning experiences of students under the guidance of the school. Phi Delta Kappan, 79(7), Mulholland, L. This because there really is no setcurriculum that defines most charter schools; at best, some may havecurriculum that is superior to public schools while others do not. In other words, charter school curriculum atsome charter schools may seem superior to public school curriculum in itslearning effects; however, the observed differences in learning may only bean artifact of the measures used to assess these effects. Also, the curriculum in very successful charter schools shouldbe compared to the curriculum in very successful public schools in order todetermine whether there are any real differences in this regard. Schwartz, W. E., Jr., Manno, B. (1999) Model guidelines forcharter schools.: Academic curriculum and school design. & Hunkins,, R. Bruno, Finn, Bierlein and Vanourek (1998) report that another reasonwhy charter school curriculum may not really be superior to public schoolcurriculum is that serious questions can be raised regardingaccountability. The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (1995) report listssome of the obstacles that charter schools have faced and are continuing toface in this regard. In thisregard, the SEDL (1995) report states that the processes and proceduresthat ultimately define autonomy, and those that authorize charter schoolsin particular, have been characterized as "adversarial" and can have adivisive and polarizing effect on relations between charter schools andlocal districts, particularly when charter schools must seek local approvalor work closely with districts to provide services to students. In the twentieth century, educational reforms have produced what hascome to be known as "charter schools." Charters are created and managed byan entity comprised of parents and/or teachers, community and/or businessleaders, non-profit organizations, or for-profit businesses. (1997). Understanding charterschools.Fastback 383. (1996). Moreover, the very demand for charter schools implies dissatisfactionwith more traditional schools, which is likely to produce tensions betweentraditional public school supporters and charter school organizers. For example, Schwartz (1996) statesthat in California, certain charter schools do not even have to give theirstudents standardized tests. In summary then, the position that charter school curriculum issuperior to public school curriculum can be defended on several groups.First, charter schools evidence high levels of success in terms of studentlearning, higher than public schools. html. Position I: Charter School Curriculum is Superior to Public School Curriculum The first point that needs to be made here is that there is no set andfixed charter school curriculum beyond the fact that most charter schoolsheavily emphasize core subjects such as reading, writing and arithmetic(Mulholland, & Bierlein, 1995). (p.1) Moreover, the report states that many charter schools are having realdifficulty applying their goals, standards and curriculum in the mannerthey intended. ERIC/CUE Digest, 19, (ERIC Document Reproduction ServiceNo. Even research that appears to show superiorlearning with charter school curriculum can be questioned on the grounds ofwhether the tests used to assess this superiority are indeed valid measuresof student learning. Charter schools--The specifics. In summary, then charter school curriculum may not, overall, besuperior to public school curriculum. In many schools, there are said to be a number of issues andchallenges that have arisen as charter school organizers attempt to planand implement their curriculum, and one outcome of these issues is said tobe that the curriculum of many charter schools has failed to show anysuperiority over public schools. & Vanourek, G. Together, charter schools encompass a wide variety of instructional programs and organizational models. In addition to these core subjects, mostcharter schools offer a variety of additional subject areas in theircurriculum; however, charter schools offer a very personalized curriculum,tailing their instructional strategies, textbooks, technologies and otherlearning experiences to each particular student; this feature is said bymany to be one of the primary reasons for charter school success (Finn,Manno, & Bierlein, 1996). (1998). In states that require charter schools to remainlegally part of a district, the schools are subject to district rules andmust apply for exemptions on a "rule by rule" basis . According to the New York Charter Schools Resource Center (1999), whatmakes the curriculum of charter schools better than many public schools isthat their curriculum planning is often more comprehensive. (1995). ED 41 322). If existingcurriculum contain elements that do not allow for these variables tosupport curricular goals, they will often design some or all of thecurriculum themselves to make sure that these contributing factors supportefforts rather than hinder efforts. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (1997), in a report oncharter schools and their curricular efforts, has noted that still anotherreason why charter school curriculum works so much better than publicschools is that charter schools are accountable. Second,many charter schools are tied to a school district with fairly littleautonomy and there really are not many curricular differences. In thevast majority of states, the amount of state and local funding is subjectto negotiation between the school and the sponsoring district. Synthesis This paper examined the question of whether the curriculum of charterschools was superior to the curriculum offered to students in publicschools. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Charter schoolsin action: What have we learned? Portland, OR: Document available:www.nwrel.org/charter/specifics.html Ornstein, A.C. 2. As the report notes: Some charter schools are legally and financially independent while others maintain close ties with their sponsoring districts. References Finn, C. Third, charter schools apply accountabilitystandards which ensures that curriculum is fulfilling the goals set for it.And four, charter schools, in planning curriculum, take into account a hostof factors that can support and contribute to learning said curriculum. Manno, Finn,Bierlein and Vanourek (1998) report that as of January 1998, more than17 , students were enrolled in nearly 8 charter schools in the UnitedStates. How well are charter schools serving urban andminority students? What is happening here is that, unlike public schools, charterschools are supplying students with "the basics" making sure theyunderstand and can apply these basic curriculum areas, and then, and onlythen, expanding the curriculum to include a wide variety of additionalsubject areas. This research shouldfirst separate charter schools in terms of their autonomy in planning andimplementing curricula and each category of charter school (e.g., highautonomy, medium autonomy and low autonomy) should then be compared interms of student outcomes to public schools. Only byconducting such research will it be possible to eventually answer thequestion of differences between charter and public school curriculum andwhether one school type has a curriculum that is superior to the other. Documentavailable: www.nycharterschools. This high level of success experienced by charter schools, accordingto Manno, Finn, Bierlein and Vanourek (1998) is in large part due todifferences between the curriculum of charter schools and public schools.The purpose of this study is to compare charter school curriculum andpublic school curriculum in order to determine an answer to the followingquestion: Is charter school curriculum superior to public schoolcurriculum? 3. And they do this while sticking to the basic guidelines forpublicly-supported education. An apple for the parents. The SEDL (1995)report notes that while a number of state laws automatically grant charterschools legally independent status, other states require charter schools toremain legally tied to a school district. These are: 1. Further, an attempt should be made to make these comparisons acrosshomogeneous student groups. Thereport notes that given this it is not surprising that charter schoolsposing the least threat to the stability of the current system-either byappealing to special needs populations instead of the "mainstream" studentbase or by seeking less autonomy and control-encounter less districtresistance and gain approval far more readily and it is likely that themajority of charter schools in many states are of this weak variety. Some serve special needs populations (i.e., at-risk students, students with disabilities) while others appeal to more "mainstream" student groups. CURRICULUM: A COMPARISON OF PUBLIC AND CHARTER SCHOOLS Introduction According to Ornstein and Hunkins (1993, p.9), curriculum can bedefined as, "...a plan for action or a written document that includesstrategies for achieving desired goals or ends."However, the authors note that the foregoing definition is a very technicalone and that, over the years, the general notion of curriculum has expandedto include any policy or learning strategy or even resources such as books,technologies and so forth which are pertinent to the learning experiencesof students. For example, if a given charter school servesmostly at risk students, then comparisons of student learning in charterand public schools should restrict themselves to at-risk studentpopulations. Rule exemptions are another obstacle faced by charter schools.According to the SEDL (1995) state laws that provide for legallyindependent charter schools typically provide a "blanket" exemption fromall state and local codes (with the exception of health, safety, and civilrights protections). Indeed, Finn, Manno, & Bierlein (1996), theirstudy of a national sample of charter schools found no charters that werestepping beyond the reasonable bounds of publicly supported educationcurriculum. 4. New York Charter Schools Resource Center. org/curriculum. Position II: Charter School Curriculum is Not Superior to Public School Curriculum According to a report prepared by the Southwest EducationalDevelopment Laboratory (1995), there really can be no comparison betweencharter and public school curriculum because of the myriad differences incharter schools from state to state. 384). Not only tothey select the curriculum but they consider a variety of variables thatcan affect students' learning of said, variables such as the design of theschool itself, the way children are grouped together, stipulatedperformance requirements, and the school's basic pedagogy. So long as it is planned, most anything in any given school isnow considered part of the curriculum. Once again,this can limit the ability of the charter school to operate autonomously indeveloping and implementing curriculum. Public schools often go completely unaccountable. Similarly, the legalstatus of charter schools is quite variable and legal status has atremendous control over curricular planning and programs. Documentavailable:ww.sedl.org/policy/insights/charter95 7.html Wiser, J. At public schools, there is often insufficient efforts takento make sure that students have learned the basics before exposure to moreinnovative curricular areas (Wiser, 1999). 5. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. A. Legislation limitations have failed to allow charter schools tohave the autonomy they need to develop their curriculum without stateinterference. This will befollowed by a delineation and discussion of the position that charterschool curriculum is not superior. This comparison will proceed by first presenting and discussingthe position that charter school curriculum is superior. These schools receivefreedom and a limited time (usually five years) in which to show curricularsuccess and this means that they are looking for measurable results fromthe curriculum. Kiplinger's PersonalFinance Magazine. Given the foregoing, it is likely that the question cannot really besettled until more thorough research is conducted. Charter schools differ, from state to state in terms of approvaland appeals processes and in many cases, these processes allow schooldistricts to use their leverage to push for less autonomous charterschools, allowing the Board to oversee of and approve or disapprove ofcurricula. Document available: www.FindArticles.com. The report will end with a summary andsynthesis of the two positions. Funding is another obstacles faced by many charter schools. Charterschools: Early learnings. Indianapolis, IN: Hudson Institute,Educational Excellence Network. Manno, B.V., Finn, C.E., Bierlein, L.A. (July 5, 1995). Thusany variance in curriculum between charter and public schools in suchstates is likely to be minimal. Further, as noted by Schwartz (1996), the goal of most charter schoolsis to present instruction that is not only personalized but challenging andinnovative for each particular student; indeed, Schwartz reports that eventheir back to basics approach, when compared to public schools, isinnovative! Second, charter school curriculumemphasizes basics far more heavily than public school curriculum whichmeans students are better prepared for handling the more expanded andchallenging curricular areas. Moreover, this research shoulduse diverse measurements of student learning to make sure that any observedresults are not test specific. A., & Bierlein, L. Indeed, the report notes that in many states, charter schoolsmust remain legally part of a school district and are often afforded nogreater autonomy than traditional public schools. (1993). It isthis broader definition of curriculum that is used in this report. Third,testing processes for showing superior student learning can be questionedin terms of their validity. How outcomes are being measured has been questioned by manyand one position is that certain tests and questionnaires used as part ofthe accountability assessment process may not be adequatelyoperationalizing charter school goals. In terms of their success, the authors report that studies at thenational level have shown that they: are strongly supported by parents;that students' in charter schools tend to achieve at higher levels thanthey did in public schools; that charter school students express strongsatisfaction with their schools and teachers; that teachers working incharter schools feel a greater sense of empowerment than teachers workingin public schools; and that even public school teachers attempt to gettheir children in charter schools. Curriculum: Foundations,principles and theory (2nd ed.) Boston: Allyn & Bacon. 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