摘要: Charter schools are public schools created to achieve a number of goals, including encouraging innovation in public education and addressing failing schools. Charter schools operate with more autonomy than traditional public schoo... 展开 Charter schools are public schools created to achieve a number of goals, including encouraging innovation in public education and addressing failing schools. Charter schools operate with more autonomy than traditional public schools in exchange for agreeing to improve student achievement, an agreement that is formalized in a contract or charter with the schools authorizing body. From about 3,000 charter schools in school year 2003-2004 to almost 5,000 in school year 2009-20010, the number of charter schools in the United States continues to grow. Spurring this growth are parents and others desire for schools that reflect their vision of public education, and federal incentives, such as the recent $4 billion Race to the Top (RTT) competitive grant fund, which among other things, encourages the growth of high performing charter schools, and the Charter Schools Program Grants for Replication and Expansion of High Quality Charter Schools. 收起