Challenge is not only opening good charter schools, but closing bad ones. A new national discussion begins. | Get Schooled

Challenge is not only opening good charter schools, but closing bad ones. A new national discussion begins. | Get Schooled:

Challenge is not only opening good charter schools, but closing bad ones. A new national discussion begins.

by Maureen Downey

Mike Ritter/AJC

While Georgia seeks ways to open more high-performing charter schools, other parts of the country are engaging in a different challenge: How to close under-performing ones.
The House passed a parent trigger bill that would have allowed parents in even top-rated schools to petition their school boards to convert their school to a charter school. (The bill stalled late last week in the state Senate but could be attached to another bill and come up again.) The recently resurrected Charter Schools Commission is beginning to consider applications for new charters.
Charter schools are public schools that operate under individualized contracts that award them more freedom and flexibility in exchange for a pledge of higher student achievement. To expand parental choice, many states, including Georgia, have been eager to open charters, but less diligent in closing them when the promised achievement doesn’t materialize.
In his study, “Improving Charter School …