Charter Schools

Obviously a big topic in our class this semester are charter schools. Thus far, I have learned that charter schools are publicly funded and privately owned. They seem to use the money  that a public school would be spending on the pupil who went there originally and it is then given to the charter school. Charter schools are also geared towards giving students, especially in cities, the education they deserve which means that they are held more accountable if the school "fails". Even after all of the discussion we have had, I do not quite understand charter schools. 

http://www.publiccharters.org/About-Charter-Schools/What-are-Charter-Schools003F.aspx

This link details many facts that may be unknown about charter schools. It explains that charter schools are tuition free, they offer longer school days, and they are able to have flexible curriculum's to fit the needs of the students. So I do not understand why so many people (like in the video) are so against the development and expansion of charter schools. One of the only negatives that I have heard about charter schools is that they continually test their students to see if they are improving and that is used as a way to rate teachers since charter schools are more able to hold their teachers accountable for their successes and failures. 

According to the link posted above: 
"Sixteen academic studies have been published on charter school performance since 2010, four national studies and 12 regional studies from throughout the country.
Fifteen of the 16 found that students in charter schools do better in school than their traditional school peers. One study found mixed results. The most recent of those studies, by the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes at Stanford University, found that charter schools do a better job teaching low income students, minority students, and students who are still learning English than traditional schools. 
Children who attend charter schools are more likely to graduate from high school than their traditional school peers. 
And dozens of charter schools across the country have 100 percent college acceptance rates for their graduating seniors" 

I see why so many parents who have children that attend schools in cities would want them to attend charter schools.