Education

4 Signs of a Great California Charter School

Figuring out what a charter school is can be a little interesting, as they can be anything from a traditional ‘students in rows of desks’ school, to students learning outside and taking on traditional topics with experimental projects. There’s a lot of different charter schools, and you have a lot of options, especially in California, and you might want your child to join a charter school.

But what do you need to look for in a good charter school? Well, there are some good signs that you need to keep in mind if you want your child to have a great California charter school experience!

  1. Talk To The Teachers

Teachers make or break a school. If your kids aren’t engaged in the classes, it is probably because the teachers aren’t keeping them fully engaged. Talk to the teachers, especially to the teachers who teach the classes that your kids are interested in. Try to get a feel for them and see if they are interested in and excited about the topic they are teaching.

If the teachers are excited and want to know about your student and are passionate about their work and the class they teach, then that is a very good sign for the quality of the education. Additionally, look at the classrooms as well and see how they look. 

Do they look like cheerful places where people can learn and a place you as an would want to visit and sit inside? If the classrooms look like tiny prison cells and everyone looks dead eyed and tired, then you need to figure out if that is a place where you want your students.

  1. The School Should Have Some Challenge

While no one wants their classwork to be too hard, the student should be learning something and that means that your work shouldn’t be too easy. Having a charter school with some challenges will be very beneficial for your students, and you should be keeping an eye on how your students are challenged as they go through the school.

If it is too easy and they aren’t learning anything, then that can be just as damaging as if the work is too hard. Make sure that your students are at a comfortable level of challenge and they will enjoy their time at the school.

  1. Community Accountability

If the charter schools that you are looking at have great reviews, as well as student and parent satisfaction ratings as well as teachers and parents on the school board, then you will have the information you need to make a good decision about where you will send your children.

Most good California charter schools have all the information online and readily available, and the community accountability for the school can be very helpful as a parent. Additionally, schools with a high level of accountability also tend to have a much higher level of engagement from the parents.

A good charter school will have parents who are involved in the volunteering and in school activities, keeping the parents visible and engaged, and also allowing the parents to see the school in action.

  1. The Ability To Be Flexible and Change

Sometimes students move faster than normal, and some might need extra help to get the key concepts of the lesson or topic. Rather than simply waiting for those students to catch up or simply breezing past all of the lessons in favor of those faster students, the ability to adjust the curriculum as needed is going to be a great sign.

Schools teaching at the level where the students should be is the norm, but charter schools are able to teach at where the students are. The best charter schools continually take data about where their students are and what their strengths and weaknesses are, and then regroup the students and teach or reteach items as necessary.

If you find a charter school that puts the student’s education first and not just the exams, then you will have a perfect charter school to try out. You want your student to be prepared for college and to enjoy their education, not just ace tests.

Pick The Perfect Charter School

Finally, make sure that your student has a desire to want to go to the charter school too. Talk with them and see what they want in their education and their classroom environment, and then go into the charter school looking for things that you both like. That way you can be sure that your child wants to go to this perfect charter school and that you are going to feel confident about the education they will be receiving.

After all, unless the charter school has some major red flags, you won’t be able to go wrong picking one!  

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