Washington, D.C. January 24th marks the beginning of School Choice Week an awareness effort to highlight the need for more high-quality school options for all families.
Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, released the following statement on National School Choice Week:
“This week, individuals, families, schools, and education organizations unite to celebrate and demand school choice. During National School Choice Week, we recognize the growing number of families who have options for their children’s education. We also commit ourselves to work on behalf of the millions of students still waiting for that choice.
“This year, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the passage of the first charter public school law. We honor the hard work put forth by the countless teachers, school leaders, and parents that created opportunities for the nearly 3 million students in charter schools today.
“Still, as our newly-released state-by-state ranking of charter school laws demonstrates, we have much more work to do to create enough opportunities for students nationwide. The National Alliance will continue to advocate on their behalf.”
About Charter Schools
Charter schools are independent, public, and tuition-free schools that are given the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. Since 2010, many research studies have found that students in charter schools do better in school than their traditional school peers. For example, one study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University found that charter schools do a better job teaching low income students, minority students, and students who are still learning English than traditional schools. Separate studies by the Center on Reinventing Public Education and Mathematica Policy Research have found that charter school students are more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college, stay in college and have higher earnings in early adulthood.
About the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is the leading national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the public charter school movement. Our mission is to lead public education to unprecedented levels of academic achievement by fostering a strong charter movement. For more information, please visit www.publiccharters.org.
