Charter schools have become a new buzz word in education.

Charter schools started up in 1991 and have been getting a lot of media attention.

So what are they exactly? And are they worth it?

Charter schools are publically funded elementary or high schools that have been freed of some of the rules, regulations and statutes of other public schools in the U.S.. In exchange, charter schools are held to some type of  accountability for producing certain results. Student requirements can vary from school to school or state to state, but they are laid out in each school’s charter.

In other words, they are schools that are formed by parents, business people or educators who are sick  of the rules in the public school system, but still promise to make sure students succeed.

Are these just empty promises, or do charter schools offer an alternative form of education that can actually prepare students for college?

Evidence seems to be unreliable. Most studies have been inconclusive, but there seem to be two main arguments:

Charter schools that have been around for awhile can be quite successful offering small class sizes, opportunities for low income families and alternative teaching methods that help students that would not fare well at a regular public high school. These types of schools have been excellent stepping stones to college.

But newer and less established charter schools can be a bit shaky and have closed by not living up to the charters standards.

In February 2006, the Center for Education Reform released a report on charter school closures. At that time they found that 436 of the 4000 charter schools has closed for reasons ranging from district consolidation to failure to attract students. The report states that the “majority are closed for financial or management deficiencies.”

The charter school trend is definitely catching on. There are 1.2 million students at charter schools and numbers are growing. So if you go charter over public you’ll probably want to do your homework–about the charter school itself.