Charter School Movement

We had a fantastic discussion yesterday at our Economic Impact Forum on Charter Schools. More than 40 business and community leaders joined us for an opportunity to chat with three of the charter school leaders in our region:

Greg Abel - Langston Charter Middle School
Fred Crawford - Greenville Tech Charter High School
Mike Sinclair - Brashier Middle College.

The level of energy, passion and knowledge that each of these leaders brings to their jobs was evident at the meeting.

A few summary points about the discussion:

1. Charter schools are public schools and their student population reflects the demographics of the general community. They have as many children in poverty, with special needs, etc. as does a "regular" public school. They are not "skimming" the best students from the system.

2. Charter schools can act as the R&D arm of the public school system, demonstrating what works (and, in some cases, what doesn't) so that those practices can be integrated into the larger systems. This is what Clayton Christensen's book Disrupting Class is all about.

3. Charter schools are similar to small, entrepreneurial firms in that they are very customer-focused and have to be very agile to activate and respond quickly to issues that arise with the students they serve. There is a lot of promise in their small size.

4. The results from these particular charter schools are extremely promising, with almost all students moving on to higher education. They operate under that assumption that there is a major difference between being college-eligible and being truly college-ready.

5. For students that complete at least 20 transferable credit hours of college coursework, there is a 90% chance of their graduating from college. Thus, a good deal of energy is spent ensuring that students are availing themselves of the college courses at Greenville Tech.

6. How can businesses get engaged? One area is in spreading the word about charter schools to your peers. Currently, many of the applications being submitted for entrance to charter schools comes from word of mouth. Help spread the word. Other ways of getting involved include serving as an evaluator on senior projects for Greenville Tech Charter High School, offering to speak in classrooms or even to serve on boards.

For you can find additional information on these Charter schools at:

Langston Charter Middle School
Brashier Middle College
Greenville Tech Charter High School

A great resource for learning about what charters are all about can be found at Palmetto Charter Network.