Download or read book Challenge and Opportunity written by John Ericson and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the operational and educational changes that school administrators attribute to charter schools. It is part of the U.S. Department of Education's 4-year study to document and analyze the charter-school movement. The study asked two questions: What changes have districts made in district operations and district education that can be attributed to charter schools? and Under what conditions do charter schools affect change in district operations and district education? To answer these questions, researchers conducted in-depth site visits in 14 school districts and interviewed by telephone administrators in 35 other districts. The results indicate that every district in the study reported being affected by charter schools and, accordingly, had made operational changes. Nearly half of the district leaders believed that their diminished budgets were attributable to charter schools and had begun tracking the number of students who attended these schools. Likewise, almost half of these leaders reported becoming more customer-service oriented, increasing their marketing and public-relations efforts, or heightening their frequency of communication with parents. Most districts also implemented new educational programs, made changes in educational structures in district schools, and/or created new schools with programs that were similar to those in the local charter schools. (Contains 20 references.) (RJM)