A recent study by researchers at Western Michigan University revealed an unpleasant side of the charter school movement. Charter schools are privately operated schools that receive tax dollars from the state for each student they enroll. The advocates for charters like to frame them as public schools offering an alternative to the "other public schools." In fact they are private schools unencumbered by many of the laws that local public schools must follow and the same oversight. For example, charter schools do not have elected school boards accountable to the local community.
What happens when there is little accountability? The study from Western Michigan provides one insight.
The Western Michigan Study looked at data from 60 of the 99 Knowledge Is Power