Charter School vs. Traditional Public Schools. My goal was to explore alternatives to the traditional public school in my area so my research into charter schools began. Depending on the area where you live charter schools are founded in a variety of ways. Some charter schools are founded by community members, parents, teachers, university academia or political and/or business leaders. In some instances charter schools are founded to take over underperforming pre-existing schools within a school district. The foundation of every charter school is a strong and effective mission statement.
After doing some research on the various charter schools in the area, I realized most if not all of the schools have waiting lists. When I contacted one school I was on page 13 of the waiting list. In order to bring my interest in each school to the top of the list, I solicited some advice from a community leader. His suggestion was to write a letter outlining my DS’s academic performance with his picture attached. I put the wheels in motion and electronically sent all the letters to the schools of interest. For some reason I was not expecting an invite to an open house so soon. Last month, I attended an open house for a school of interest. After doing research on the school, the reviews were mixed. Some parents loved the curriculum as well as their child’s progress. While some parents thought the school administered too much homework. I am all about reinforcing the curriculum through homework so this definitely did not sway my decision to pursue this particular school. The open house was for all interested parents and we were able to view a video that gave a thorough overview of the school. Next, the chief academic officer facilitated a question & answer session for all of the parents. I loved her sense of dedication to the children and the mission of the school. She also emphasized how the parents are expected to play an integral part in their child’s success. When the question and answer session was finished we were given school applications to complete and the process begins. The overall admissions process begins with a completed application, a lottery and then an acceptance letter. This school is at the top of my list for a number of reasons, the chief academic officer is the founder of another charter school, and the 2009 PSSA scores for this school for grades 3-8 are between 88%-100% proficiency in math and reading. My next step is to follow-up with phone calls as I am coming down to the wire with the school year quickly approaching. Charter School vs. Traditional Public School
