The California Network of Educational Charters hopes its
new accreditation program will serve as a tool to help charter sponsors
- which in California are mostly local school districts - do a better
job of holding such schools accountable. In that way, network leaders
aim to blunt the impetus for further legislative restrictions on charter
schools.
A dozen schools are piloting the program, and the charter
network hopes to enroll as many as 100 more next spring. The network,
which has offices in San Carlos and Sacramento, represents about 70
percent of California's 436 charter schools, which together enroll 166,000
students.
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That process will give parents an objective guide
with which to evaluate a charter school. It will help expose the pretenders
and scammers -- the handful of charter schools that have damaged the
charter movement in California. It also should provide legislators with
evidence that charter schools are meeting their goal of raising academic
performance through innovation.
The collaboration comes at the right time. This
year, the Legislature added restrictions on granting charters, in response
to abuses by rogue charters. Charter advocates rightfully are fearful
that the state Department of Education and legislators will overreact
with new restraints that will undermine charter schools' independence.
To their credit, the state's charters are willing to expose themselves
to criticisms and review. Here too, public schools can learn from their
example.
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This week the charter school movement in California took
a long step forward in making their schools more credible and acceptable
to parents. The group that represents 70 percent of the state's 436
charter schools has devised the first charter accreditation program
in the country for its member schools.
"We're taking the charter school movement to
the next level," Gary Larson, director of communications for the
charter schools group, told a meeting of the Register editorial board.
"This will bring academic accountability and financial integrity.
This is the charter schools' way of saying, 'We are raising the bar
here and are ready to walk the walk. We're going to be the ones to monitor
for high quality'. It's also a way of defusing criticism from the public
school establishment - and perhaps beating it to the punch in attempting
to impose restrictions."
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