Rhode Island charter schools experience record rise in popularity

TIMOTHY GROVES, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools, said the increase in applications means charter schools are providing the kind of education parents want for their children.
TIMOTHY GROVES, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools, said the increase in applications means charter schools are providing the kind of education parents want for their children.

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island public charter schools received more than nine applications for every open seat in anticipation of the 2016-2017 academic year, according to the state Department of Education.

The report stated that for the 1,609 open public charter school seats the state received a record-breaking 14,628 applications. This represents an almost 8 percent increase from the number of applications received in the previous year.

For example, Highlander Charter School, an independent charter school with locations in Warwick and Providence, which enrolls pre-kindergarteners through 12th graders, received 2,048 applications for 73 openings.

Head of School Rose Mary Grant said the ability to choose the public school your child attends is increasingly important to families across the state.

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“Highlander Charter School, like all charter schools in Rhode Island, provides opportunities for parents, most with limited financial resources, to still have a voice in choosing the educational setting for their child. My hope is that more families will be able to have this opportunity for public school choice in the future,” said Grant.

Timothy Groves, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools, said the increase in applications means charter schools are providing the kind of education parents want for their children.

“Our schools provide unique learning experiences for children and foster innovation within the public education system. The overwhelming demand for [charter] schools reaffirms that we must continue working to support great public school options for all students,” he added.

When the number of applications to charter schools exceed the number of open seats, all applications are entered into a blind lottery held annually on March 1. Those applicants selected at random are offered admission.

Rhode Island is home to 18 charter schools which enroll 7,300 students, close to 5 percent of the state’s school-aged population. Three types of charter schools exist in Rhode Island: district charter public schools, independent charter public schools and mayoral academies.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Private school and charter school administrators and teachers are successful because they control what happens in their classrooms. To save public schools, the “School-Within-a-School-Concept” should be employed in each public school with more than 350 students. If a school has 600 students, it would be divided up into two separate schools with 300 students each. In each school, administrators, faculty members, parents, non-instructional staff and students would have an opportunity get to know and trust one another. In a short period of time, almost everyone would begin acting like a family where most members care about and want to help each other. A social commitment would develop where most members would begin working together to make each school a successful community. Because these schools would be small, curriculums designed to meet the cultural diverse needs of at risk student populations could be developed. Administrators, teachers and students, in these small schools, could use the team approach to successfully implement curriculum goals and create group portfolios to represent their achievements. In a team, every member works very hard to make sure the team achieves its goals. These small schools would be successful because administrators, teachers and students would control what happens in their classrooms. Implementing this plan will make charter schools unnecessary. Every public school will be the equivalent of a well run charter school.

  2. Charter Schools are successful because everyone in the school is working together as a team on a daily basis. Because of the lottery system of choosing students, every parent and other family members of charter school students are motivated to work together to make the charter school successful. A large number of students in a charter school are low income and underprivileged. Their home life is not stable and these students change neighborhoods frequently. Normally these students would be attending many different schools. However, in a charter school, these students are provided with a stable learning environment. Every day these students are surrounded by the same administrators, teachers and classmates who care about and want to help one another. The daily lessons are well planned and these students have the opportunity to learn the basic skills on a day to day basis. There are few interruptions in the learning stream. I say, “Let’s provide a stable learning environment for low income, underprivileged public school students.” When the parents of these children are forced to move to a new local neighborhood or a new town, these children should not be forced to change schools. These children should be allowed to stay with the administrators, teachers and students who know and care about them. In addition, like charter schools, public schools should be allowed to have a longer school year and a longer school day. Public school teachers are faced with many students moving in and leaving their schools. Parents and family members have no personal relationships with their new administrators, teachers and students. As a result, student absenteeism is a major problem.