Dive Brief:

• The National Association of State Boards of Education’s latest edition of its journal, The State Education Standard, offers a comprehensive look at charter schooling and the role of state boards in developing a vision and accountability system for the sector.
• Articles in the edition include an overview of the current charter school landscape, a call for collaboration between school districts and charters, and perspectives on charter school accountability.
• The journal also tackles the role of state boards in ensuring quality oversight among charter school authorizers and explores two common critiques of charter schools — that they undermine teacher unions and resegregate public education.

Dive Insight:

Charter schools hit their 25-year anniversary in the United States in 2016 after having started in Minnesota as a way to offer flexibility for parents and teachers to test out innovative ideas for student learning. Now charter schools claim about 5% of public students nationwide and that number is growing. Education Week reported in June that more than a dozen urban districts send as many as 30% of students to charters.

As the field has grown and virtual charter schools have joined the fray, professional associations have called for better oversight and higher standards. U.S. Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos is a fierce supporter of school choice and has argued against regulations that limit charter school expansion. Key to quality control, however, will be effective oversight and accountability measures of the continually expanding sector.