Accountability and School Improvement

Accountability and School Improvement

Reflective Review on "Building a Plane While Flying It"

After reading the article "Building a Plane While Flying It," by Noelle C. Griffin and Priscilla Wohlstetter, I am able to better understand the concept of charter schools in this country. The idea of the charter school seems very practical and rewarding to both students and faculty; however this article points out that this concept still needs to be developed further before it can truly make an impact on our society.

What I like about the charter school is the idea of expanding educational communities to truly bring about high quality teaching and learning. Almost every school sets out to provide the best possible quality of teaching and learning to its students; however many schools do not have adequate resources to ensure this, and in public schools, there are only so many buttons a teacher can push before breaking the rules. In a charter school, the idea is that the teachers and administrators make the rules and define the curriculum, and thus they are not as limited in their initiatives. The charter school also tends to focus on integrating the school with the surrounding community, and this is very positive for the students because it allows them to apply their knowledge in real-world situations.

Although the charter school has only the best intentions, there are still many challenges this concept faces before it can truly succeed. First of all, without a set curriculum by the Board of Education, a charter school might find it difficult to form an integrated instructional program and professional-development system. Also, charter schools might find it challenging to measure accountability without clear direction from the state; if the school cannot measure accountability, it is very hard to determine whether the concept is working and, if it is not working, how to fix it. Finally, another major issue is decision-making power -- the plan is to distribute power evenly among the administration, but this tends to make decision-making take way too long, which brings about the question of creating a more centralized decision-making process.