Where Character Comes First

Charter schools are effective in many different ways. They are beneficial to students because they allow for more 1 on 1 help in order to ensure maximum academic success. Here, at Robertson Charter School we also focus a lot of our attention of exhibiting excellent character.

Why do charter schools succeed, even in the most underserved areas? The answer is in the way they’re structured. Charter schools are granted the flexibility to operate in exchange for accountability of students achievement. They are granted the flexibility to design and run schools for fixed periods of time.  However, they must be transparent with their academic and financial performance and meet strict academic standards in order to continue to stay open. Therefore, charter schools are highly motivated to improving student performance, and that’s the accountability piece. It’s this policy framework that allows  educational outcomes to improve for students. Because of the flexibility in how they’re structured, charter schools can make changes as they learn what works best. Traditional public schools don’t have the same flexibility. It is crucial to close charter schools that aren’t doing well, making way for new schools to take their place. This is one of the most important innovations to public schools in decades.

No. Charter schools can vary a great deal in their design and results.

Charter schools are public schools. Like district public schools, they are funded according to enrollment (also called average daily attendance, or ADA), and receive funding from the district and the state according to the number of students attending.

Charter schools are public schools and thus must accept any students who are eligible to attend. Just like public schools, they are not allowed to prevent students from attending their school. If the charter school is oversubscribed however, meaning more students apply for positions in the charter school than are eligible, the charter school will hold a random lottery for admittance. It may not pick and choose students who are based on arbitrary criteria like test scores, family income, or English proficiency.