Charter school accountability

 
Another great case study of how charter schools are so much more accountable than regular public schools (from the Center for Education Reform newswire):

ACCOUNTABILITY IN ACTION.  University Preparatory Charter High School has been in all of the California  newspapers lately - for all of the wrong reasons. On July 8, the San  Francisco Chronicle <http://www.edreform.com/dsp_getfile.cfm?emailclick&amp;fd=19795&amp;massemailid=967&amp;filepath=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3ff=/c/a/2007/07/08/UPREP.TMP%26tsp=1> highlighted the East Oakland charter  school, its impressive test scores, and its founder and principal Isaac Haqq,  who has allegedly been doctoring those test scores and illegally preparing  students for standardized tests. The story created a firestorm in the  community and set off a series of pieces in the local newspapers detailing the  principal's transgressions. But rather than become yet another public school  that has failed our kids, the performance accountability promised by charter  contracts took its course. Within three days of the San Francisco  Chronicle story, the California Charter Schools Association suspended the  school's membership in the association and called for the school to take  action against Haqq. The next day, Haqq resigned and the following Monday, the  school had a new director in place. There are currently 122 other public  schools accused of similar grade doctoring in California. And what has  happened there? Nothing. While the story of University Prep is about one bad  apple, it's also a story about the accountability of the charter school  movement. When there is a problem, it is fixed. As Gary Larson of the  California Charter Schools Association told Newswire, "It will likely  take months if not years to uncover what is going wrong at these other  schools, but in the charter school system, we were able to shine the light on  what was wrong in the school and hold that individual accountable - in less  than five days."