A Sum Greater Than the Parts

Here's a summary of the Education Sector report (the entire 19-page report can be downloaded at http://www.educationsector.org/research/research_show.htm?doc_id=521913):

As independently operated public schools, charter schools offer educators  increased freedom to design their own educational programs in return for  heightened accountability for student performance. Unlike traditional public  schools, charters that persistently fail to educate students can, and should,  be shut down. As such, they provide a "third way" approach to public  education—positioned between the status quo of limited choice and barriers to  entry for new educational providers and free-market-oriented reforms, like  vouchers, that increase competition but at the expense of public oversight or  accountability.

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Education Sector Reports: Charter School Series
A Sum Greater Than the Parts: What States Can Teach Each Other About Charter Schooling
uthors:  Sara  Mead  and   Andrew  J. Rotherham , September 11, 2007  

Fifteen years after the first public charter school opened in St. Paul, Minn., charter schools remain a powerful educational innovation. Charter schooling expands choices for students within the public system and provides more customized teaching and learning opportunities for teachers and students by allowing for greater variation in the kinds of schools that are available. At the same time, charter schools maintain core public education ideals, such as providing universal access for students and public oversight and accountability.