Charter Schools as Agents of Social Change
I had no barriers or obstacles when it came to my education. My parents were very supportive of me. I was able to attend the public school down the street from my house and obtain a quality education. My grammar school education set me off on the trajecto
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The Charter School Experience Voices from the Field
Edited by Michael Bitz Ramapo College, Mahwah, New Jersey, USA
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: 978-94-6300-688-0 (paperback) ISBN: 978-94-6300-689-7 (hardback) ISBN: 978-94-6300-690-3 (e-book)
Published by: Sense Publishers, P.O. Box 21858, 3001 AW Rotterdam, The Netherlands https://www.sensepublishers.com/
All chapters in this book have undergone peer review.
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved © 2016 Sense Publishers No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: Contextualizing the Charter School Experience Michael Bitz
vii
Part 1: Teachers 1. Teaching in the City: A Personal Account of My Experiences at Charter Schools3 Thomas Ng 2. Charter Schools as Agents of Social Change: A Teacher’s Perspective Meghan McKeary
17
3. An Introspective on Creative and Culturally Responsive Education Hope D’Neele Johnson
31
Part 1: Reflection Questions
43
Part 2: School Leaders 4. Authentic Connections between Schools and Communities: The Role Charters Can Play Leslie Chang
47
5. The Charter-Community Connection: Creating the Link between Life and School Ana Ponce
59
6. The Rollercoaster Ride of Creating a Charter School David Park Part 2: Reflection Questions
69 81
Part 3: Parents 7. Finding a School for Our Daughter: Why We Chose a Charter School Linda Smith and Paul Smith
85
8. Making the Charter School Decision: A Parent’s View Maya Nelson
95
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
9. Charter Schools and Special Needs Children: A Research Focus on Problems and Solutions Julie Norflus-Good, Anne DeGroot, Alex Urbiel and Marisa Schussler Part 3: Reflection Questions
105 115
Part 4: Students 10. My Charter School Experience: A Hip-Hop Academy Michael Fitzpatrick
119
11. Getting the Blend Right: The Charter School That Saved My Life Tanisha Richards
125
12. School in a Computer: Why the Virtual Charter School Didn’t Work for Me Davon Johnson Part 4: Reflection Questions Conclusion: What We Learn from Voices from the Field Michael Bitz
vi
131 137 139
MICHAEL BITZ
INTRODUCTION Contextualizing the Charter School Experience
The role of charter schools is one of the most contentiously debated topics in American education today. So what is a charter school? Simply put, a charter school is a public school that is not required to abide by the rules of a public school district. For example, whereas a traditional public school might be bound—often by contract with a teachers union—to 296 minutes of instructional time every school day, a charter school could increase, or even decrease, that amount of
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