Charter Schools On The Rise
May 26, 2011
According to the Washington Times and the Washington Post, a new study from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that in the 2008-09 school year, 1.4 million students across the country attended public charter schools, up from 340,000 a decade earlier. NCES Commissioner Jack Buckley called the rising enrollment at charter schools “a robust trend” and predicted it will continue. In Philadelphia, for example, one in four public school students will be enrolled in one of the city’s 82 charters next year, with enrollment growing from 16,000 students in 2001-2002 to a projected 47,000 next year. “Charters have been designed to boost student achievement, and that word has gotten out there,” said Peter C. Groff, president and CEO, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. States such as Indiana have recently passed registration intended to expand charter schooling, which could lead to increased growth in the years to come.