American Charter School Accountability
Pragmatism, since its birth, has been well embraced by American people and eventually developed into a national spirit, a guideline for American way of life, profoundly influencing Americans' value judgement. American believe that in order to achieve success in the keen competition, one must be practical rather than insist on abstract principle or be confined to the theoretical knowledge. Whenever you see business leaders, politicians or other social leaders outlooking the future, they are focusing on results or consequences. The American charter schools are founded on the bedrock of pragmatism and result-based accountability. Accountability, the cornerstone of charter schools, is a prominent demonstration of this philosophy.
Charter schools are public schools authorized by state government to operate free from many of the regulations implemented to traditional public schools. They decide autonomously how to spend their budgets-What textbooks and materials to use, what teachers to hire, what extracurriculum to offer, and so on. Charter schools are also schools of choice. Parents can choose whether to enroll their children in a particular school. Teachers can choose whether to stay or leave a charter school. The "charter" is a contract specifying school's mission, goals, program, methods of evaluation, and ways to measure success. Charter schools are accountable to their sponsor-- usually a state or local school board-- for producing expected academic results stated in the charter contract and phiscal practices as well. They are also accountable to parents and teachers for fullfilling promises of school climate, student learning, ways of instruction to maintain the two parties' confidence. These accountabilities are in return for the high degree of autonomy. Charters are granted for fixed terms, normally 5 years. And they can be renewed only if the school shows that it has lived up to what it promises. Schools fail to perform will be shut...
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