Jan 30, 2018, 8:22 PM
(from Education Next) Growth in the number of U.S. charter schools slowed to 2 percent in 2016, down from an annual rate of between 5.9 percent and 9.2 percent from 2007 to 2014. A study of charter growth in the San Francisco Bay area finds that "the price of success" involves a set of related barriers. "As charters have become a more significant presence, especially in their target cities, they are encountering scarce facilities, increased competition with one another, and heightened political opposition. These intense new dynamics exacerbate the already challenging realities of a maturing sector: after a period of rapid expansion, many charter networks are also choosing to pause growth to attend to internal needs, including improving instruction and talent development."
The nation's first charter-school law was passed in 1991. More than three million students nationwide now attend charters.
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