In the ongoing debate about the value of charter schools, there has been research to indicate that the academic results for charter schools is mixed. For example, a study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (2009) found that the effectiveness of charter schools widely varied from state to state. Given the mixed results, it cannot be said that charter schools definitively improve the quality of education for students in our country. In fact, some are doing the opposite.

This session introduces the debate over whether charter schools are helpful or harmful to our education system in the U.S. Proponents of the school choice movement cite academic improvement and rigor as a reason to support charter schools. Gill (2016) compared 11 different studies of the effects of charter schools on student achievement and offers that more of these studies indicated positive trends for charter school students in terms of achievement.