How to Increase Charter Schools

A charter school is required to meet the specific objectives set out in its charter — the ends — and in exchange the state gives it greater flexibility in its approach — the means — therefore, unlike traditional public schools, charter school principals can more easily hire, reward, penalize, and fire staff as well as assert greater control over the school curriculum.

In other words, charter schools operate more like a business whereas traditional schools operate more like a bureaucracy.

What type do you think performs better?

Common sense gives you one answer; common cause may give you another.

If you Google the answer then the top research papers and news articles will tell you that charter schools perform equal to traditional schools. End of story, right? After all, who would know better about education than the social scientists who work in it? We’re supposed to trust the science so surely if they were to be manipulative here then this would call into question all their other conclusions where they’re likely to have much less data at their disposal.

What shall it be?