Summer and San Juan

Summer and San Juan

Summer arrived a few days ago, but I was so busy, I forgot about one of my favorite childhood holidays. The celebration of El Dia de San Juan on June 23 is a long tradition in the Spanish-speaking world. The day is a commemoration of San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist).

Many traditions are associated with the Día de San Juan. The most popular one, still practiced today, is to gather at the beaches in the evening and then, at midnight, to jump into the ocean backwards twelve times for good luck. The celebration continues for hours, with families gathering to enjoy food, music, and dancing.

Another tradition during that day is the setting of bonfires close to the water’s edge, where people congregate. Both elements—fire and water—are associated with purification. Burning branches from the fires of San Juan, or the ashes thereof, are used by many to ward off plagues, disease, and “bad vibes,” The waters of this night, meanwhile, are believed to help with skin complaints and to provide a more general cleansing of body and soul. This is why, at midnight, there is a mad rush across the sand into the sea, and why people will be making silent wishes as the waters cover them.

Growing up, I didn’t know much about the holiday’s background. I only knew that the Día de San Juan marked the beginning of summer and that all the kids looked forward to going to the beach late at night and having fun until very early in the following morning. I received photos my great-niece took just a few days ago. It’s nice to know some things never change.

Off to Nicaragua!

Off to Nicaragua!

If you are always looking for ways to incorporate the National Standards for Teaching Foreign Languages (Communication, Cultures, Communities, Comparisons, and Connections) in your classroom, even during your summer vacations, here is a simple and engaging activity to help students or your kids gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures. I learned this activity at a seminar I attended at the Northeast Conference for the Teaching of Foreign Languages. It was presented by Megan Packett, a K–5 Spanish teacher.

The purpose of this exercise is to use Google Maps to explore a Spanish-speaking country through maps and pictures.

Step 1: Open up your Internet Explorer.

Step 2: In the URL box enter http://www.google.com/.

Step 3: Click on Maps in the upper right corner.

Step 4: Type the name of a country. For example, type Nicaragua in the “Search Maps” box.

Step 5: Click on “Satellite” in the upper right corner of the map; this will change the view of your map to satellite images of Nicaragua.

Step 6: In the “Search Maps,” box type Managua, Nicaragua.

Step 7: To the right of your map, there is a tool bar with pictures and above it a link that reads “Explore this Area.” Click on this link.

Step 8: Now pictures of places in Managua, Nicaragua will appear all over the map. If you click a picture, it will enlarge it so you can see. Click on as many pictures as you want to see!

Now repeat the search for other cities in Nicaragua, exploring as many cities and pictures as you can to see what the country looks like. Other Nicaraguan cities you can explore are Leon, Masaya, and San Juan del Sur.

Step 9: In the URL box, type “Nicaragua + CIA World Factbook.” Students will learn facts and statistics of Nicaragua’s geography, people, government, economy, and more.

To finish the lesson and to reinforce the student’s knowledge about the studied country, you can prepare in advance a fill-in-the-blank exercise, which they can complete after reading about Nicaragua in the CIA World Factbook. For example:

1. Nicaragua’s Population____________
2. Nicaragua’s GDP_________________
3. Nicaragua’s illiteracy rate__________

Another option is for students to compare their own country with Nicaragua in terms of geography and economy, for instance.

I hope you have fun with this activity. Enjoy your break!

Pirates of the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean Sea

Pirates of the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean Sea

When Captain Richard Phillips, master of the Maersk Alabama, was rescued from Somali pirates by U.S. Navy commandos, the world cheered. The captors of the American merchant mariner were killed by expert Navy marksmen. Despite this heroic rescue, the practice of piracy continues. Pirates operating from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northern Somalia carried out more than 100 attacks on ships in 2008. In one such attack, a Ukrainian cargo ship, carrying tanks and heavy weaponry, was seized by pirates. On another occasion, a supertanker with a cargo of over two million barrels of oil was captured by raiders from the Horn of Africa. Using small, fast boats with powerful outboard motors, pirates in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean hold ships, cargos, and crews for ransom. It is a lucrative business, since shipping companies will pay millions of dollars. In a region with starving populations, almost no economic activity, and little in the way of effective government, pirates become rich enough to live in large houses with television and other electronic entertainment systems. In short, pirates often have the best of everything as a result of the risks they take. The dangers of present-day piracy are small compared to the scale of pirate operations in the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean Sea. In antiquity, pirate craft came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. The pirates of the Balearic Islands used rafts to carry out attacks during the late 2nd century B.C. Across the Mediterranean, sleek galleys with long, slender hulls were built for speed. Shallow drafts enabled pirates to operate close inshore in order to engage in hit-and-run raids on coastal villages and to ambush merchant ships from hiding places along the shoreline. In the late Bronze Age, seaborne raiders carried out wide-ranging attacks across the eastern Mediterranean and may have played an important role in bringing about the collapse of the Mycanean, Hittite, and Mitanni states. Throughout the Classical Age, pirates were considered useful allies in time of war. The Spartans employed a pirate named Theopompus to carry dispatches in his fast ships during the Peloponnesian War. (431–404B.C.) Following the death of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C., the wars of the rival Hellenistic rulers created an unstable political environment in which pirates hired out their services to one or the other warring states and empires. Demetrius of Macedonia, called the Besieger from his attempt to capture Rhodes on 305–304 B.C., employed large numbers of pirates to carry out raids against the island state. The lack of strong government, internal warfare, and a shortage of good farmland, led to the growth of piracy on Crete and a population notorious for its practice of piracy. The greatest infamy as pirates, however, was achieved by the coastal communities of Anatolia, especially those of Cilicia (modern Turkey).

By the early decades of the first century B.C., Cilician piracy had become a growth industry. Rome, the new Mediterranean superpower, was engaged in a long war against Mithradites VI of Pontus. The Pontic king became a powerful ally of the Cilician pirates, financing their operations, and enabling them to build large warships and to sail in fleets commanded by “archpirates”. The Cilicians also operated in concert with other pirates in the Mediterranean. The most lucrative activity for the Cilicians was the slave trade. The nearby island of Delos provided a large and busy slave market that imported and exported tens of thousands of slaves daily.

The ransoming of captives taken during attacks on shipping or coastal communities provided Graeco-Roman pirates with a good source of income. Captives of high social status could generate substantial revenue. The most famous prisoner ransomed by pirates was the young Julius Caesar, captured by Cilicians in the 70s B.C. When the pirates demanded a sum of 20 talents of gold for his release, Caesar decided that this was too low a sum to ask for someone of his social status and advised the pirates to increase the ransom to 50 talents. During a month with the pirates, awaiting payment, Caesar took part in their games and wrote poetry and speeches. He also told them what he would do to them after he was released. His captors thought he was joking. They stopped laughing when the young noble immediately gathered ships from the nearby city of Miletus, returned to the pirate base, captured a number of them, and had them crucified.

Throughout antiquity, many of the maritime powers attempted to curb piracy. It is believed that the legendary King Minos of Crete used his navy against pirates. The Athenians and the Corinthians also attempted to rid the seas of pirates. Rhodes joined this effort in the mid-fourth century B.C. However, even ancient states with strong navies found the elimination of piracy impossible given the hundreds of islands and hidden coves in which pirates could hide from patrolling warships.

Rome took action against the Cilician pirates when they became powerful and active enough to threaten the city’s grain supply. In 67 B.C., Pompey the Great was given authority to end the threat of famine by driving the pirates from the sea. His first action was to secure the sea lanes of the western and central Mediterranean. With 60 warships, Pompey drove the pirates back to their bases in Cilicia and pursued them eastward. Only 49 days after leaving Italy, the Roman general had subdued the last pirate strongholds in Crete and Cilicia. Pompey’s campaign is the best known and most successful anti-piracy operation conducted in antiquity. However, Pompey’s victory was made possible by his promise of mercy to those pirates who surrendered to him and the promise of resettlement in agricultural regions depopulated by war. The policy was successful only in the short term. Within twenty years, piracy again became a problem in the Mediterranean.

Does antiquity provide a lesson? The modern naval ships patrolling the sea around the Horn of Africa may not be sufficient to eliminate piracy. The political stabilization and economic development of Somalia, if possible, will be necessary to create an environment in which piracy is not the viable form of political activity.

Star Trek and Physics

Star Trek and Physics

I have been a fan of the Star Trek television series and movies since the first TV show aired on September 8, 1966. Although I was studying at that time to be a science teacher, I was able to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the stories. I was lucky enough to hear Lawrence M. Krauss, the author of The Physics of Star Trek, speak at last fall’s Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS) meeting. However, listening to his presentation and reading his book has made it more difficult to suspend disbelief.

I noticed this when I went to see the new Star Trek movie a few weeks ago after having just finished reading his book. I really did enjoy the story; although it was a little confusing when certain aspects of the story did not agree with what I remembered from the TV series and earlier movies. Just in case some readers have not yet seen the film, I won’t go into the details. Let me just say that it has to do with alternative realities.

As far as I know, Dr. Krauss has not commented on the new movie. However, he has had much to say about the TV series and older movies. Here is a small sample.

• Accelerating to Warp Speed—When one of the captains, Kirk, Picard, Janeway, etc., gives the command to go to warp speed, it seems to happen instantaneously. However, if this were the case, all on board would be killed by the G forces. To keep the crew from being killed, to accelerate from rest to about half the speed of light (150,000 km/sec) at a force no greater than 3G (3 times Earth’s gravity) would take about 5 million seconds (2 ½ months). Not really fast enough to escape from the Romulans.


• Tractor Beams—These beams are used to push or pull large objects, such as another starship or a small moon. The problem here is Newton’s laws of motion. Unless the Enterprise was anchored to something heavy, when the beam was engaged, the starship would move in the opposite direction from the object being pushed. Think about what happens when you are ice skating and try to push someone away from you. You move backward.


• Transporter—What would be the most efficient way to transfer the 10^28 atoms (1 followed by 28 zeros) from the ship to the surface of a planet: transporting the individual atoms or the information (bits) they contain? Dr. Krauss says that designers of transporters will have to find an energy source that will temporarily produce a power that is greater than the total power consumed today on the whole Earth by a factor of 10,000 if they are to send a matter stream of atoms into space at near light speed. If they send only the information, the transporter would have to store 1028 kilobytes of information for each person. The stack of 10-cm thick million megabyte disks would be 100 light-years tall for just one person.


• Explosions in Space—Sound needs a medium through which to travel. For us on Earth, air is the usual medium; however sound travels well through water and metals. (Cowboys placing their ear on the rail to find out if the train was coming.) There is no air (or other medium) in outer space. Therefore, when something explodes in space there is no sound. This error drives me crazy.


• Blood in 0G—This is one the Star Trek writer got right. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, after the assassins shoot everyone in sight, the drops of blood floating in the air are spherical.

You really don’t have to be a geek to enjoy the movie or Dr. Krauss’s book.

World's Fair, 1892–93

World's Fair, 1892–93

Members of the AP U.S. History electronic discussion group have been recommending books to other AP U.S. History teachers to assign to students over the summer. I ordered a couple of the recommended titles and have finished reading one of them: The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. It is an historical novel—a good, exciting one that is based on historical facts. Indeed, the author researched both secondary and primary sources and listed them by chapter in the back of the book.

The White City. The main subject of the book is the World Columbian Exposition (400 years since Columbus came to America) of 1892–93. It was also called a World's Fair. We follow the civic leaders of Chicago and prominent American architects as they lobby for the right to hold this World’s Fair in Chicago. They win the competition over New York, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis. Chicago architect Daniel Burnham is the main force behind getting other major architects to design the buildings, including Louis Sullivan, Richard Hunt, and Charles McKim. Frederick Law Olmsted was hired to design the landscape. The collection of monumental buildings became called the White City because the architects agreed that all of the structures had to be painted white. This contrasted with the rest of Chicago, which sometimes was called the Black City because of all the grime and dirt (and smells from the stockyards).

The Dark Subplot. Interspersed in the story of the creation, opening, and closing of the World’s Fair of 1892–93 is a subplot about a soft-spoken young doctor who owned a large building about a mile from the fair grounds. For unexplained reasons, Dr. H.H. Holmes (that is one of his names) liked to kill and dissect people. He set up a gas chamber and a crematorium in his building, advertised rooms for rent, and waited to see who would show up. He befriended a number of unattached young women and even married some of them before killing them. And there were many young, single women coming to Chicago in the 1890s to look for jobs and go to the World’s Fair.

Why Was the World’s Fair Significant? The White City showed that beautiful cities could be planned. This was the start of the city planning movement that developed in the Twentieth Century. The tradition of the midway began at this fair also, actually on land just outside the fairgrounds. Buffalo Bill made a million dollars putting on his show every day on the Midway. A Morrocan village was another attraction. What is a fair today without a midway full of unusual attractions and scary rides? The Ferris Wheel originated at this midway. The planners of the fair wanted a structure that would rival the Eiffel Tower, which had been built for the Paris Exposition of 1889. George Ferris had the idea of building a giant, vertical wheel with cars attached around the edge of the wheel. No metal, moving wheel this big had ever been built before. But it was built in Chicago, did not fall down (as predicted), and provided tens of thousands of Americans with a unique experience.

Cracker Jack and Shredded Wheat were born in the White City. Incandescent bulbs powered by alternating current lit up the fair in a spectacular manner that Americans had not seen before. Walt Disney’s father helped build the fair. Perhaps Walt heard tales of the fair that were transformed into plans for the Magic Kingdom. L. Frank Baum visited the fair. Perhaps he got ideas for Oz from that experience. Because of the fair, President Harrison made October 12 a national holiday (Columbus Day). I could go on, but why? Read the book yourself! I only hope that the AP U.S. History students enjoy the book as much as I did. But I doubt that the subject matter of the book will be on an AP test, so they should still read Amsco's U.S. History: Preparing for the AP Examination.

Advice to High School Graduates

Advice to High School Graduates

Unable to book popular commencement speaker Oprah Winfrey as a guest blogger, I did the next-best thing: asked my Amsco colleagues what advice they could offer today's high school graduates.

• Work hard and enjoy what you are doing, or get out of it and change your path.


• Save all the clothes you wore in your senior year of high school because in 20 years, they'll be back in fashion.


• Get a college education.


• Take courses in a wide range of subjects in college (outside your major area); it will make you a better-rounded person intellectually.


• While in college, take the opportunity to find what you both truly enjoy and excel in and make that your career.


• Do not allow college or work to stifle your creativity.


• Believe in yourself, work hard, and you will succeed.


• Continue your education, focusing upon courses of study which will provide you with marketable skills.


• While it is desirable to go into a field of study or work that you already enjoy, look to see if it is overpopulated.


• Even if you are not going on to college, keep reading, studying, and learning, especially in the areas that you find interesting.


• If you are not planning on furthering your education, learn the phrase, “Do you want fries with that?”


• If you find out what it is you truly want to do in your life don't ever give up, and don't ever let anyone tell you that you cannot achieve your goal.


• Be ready for change after graduation: prepare yourself for college and get ready for the competition when looking for work.


• Keep focused and surround yourself with positive friends.


• Life is tough enough when you walk the straight and narrow; deviation can turn into a disaster.


• Work with passion towards your goals and seek opportunities to fulfill them.


• “Honesty: the most important thing in life. Unless you really know how to fake it, you’ll never make it.”


• Make no little plans.

Congratulations to the class of 2009!

Bunker Hill is not where Edith and Archie Bunker Lived!

Bunker Hill is not where Edith and Archie Bunker Lived!

Today is Bunker Hill Day. I know, I can’t believe there is such a thing either, but there is (at least that’s what my desk calendar says). Bunker Hill is where one of the early battles took place in the American Revolutionary War. It followed the fights at Lexington and Concord by two months on June 17, 1775. This was a battle the American colonialists lost, so why is it on my calendar?

On June 13, four days before Bunker Hill, the leaders of the besieging colonial forces learned that the British generals in Boston were planning to occupy the hills around Boston. In response to this intelligence, 1,200 colonial troops under the command of William ("Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes.") Prescott stealthily occupied Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill, constructed an earthen redoubt on Breed's Hill, and built lightly fortified lines across most of the Charlestown Peninsula.

When the British were alerted to the presence of the colonialists the next day, they mounted an attack against them. After two assaults on the colonial lines were repulsed with significant British casualties, the British finally captured the positions on the third assault after the defenders in the redoubt ran out of ammunition. The colonial forces retreated to Cambridge over the hill, suffering their most significant losses on Bunker Hill itself.

While the British were victorious, they also suffered their greatest casualties of the entire war: over 800 wounded and 226 killed, including a notably large number of officers. Their immediate objective (the capture of Bunker Hill) was achieved, but that did not significantly alter the state of the siege. It did, however, demonstrate that relatively inexperienced colonial forces were willing and able to stand up to well-trained troops in a pitched battle.

In Boston, Massachusetts, where Bunker Hill Day is a legal holiday (no school!), a 221-foot monument stands in commemoration of this battle.

A New Graphic Novel by Ellen Lindner

A New Graphic Novel by Ellen Lindner

For those of you who don’t know, Ellen Lindner (above) is one of America’s up-and-coming graphic novelists. Okay, so she lives in London, but T.S. Eliot also had that transcontinental thing going on, so we’ll let it slide. All humor aside, this young author has recently published her first full-length graphic novel, which she both wrote and illustrated. Although Lindner has illustrated graphic works before, Undertow is the first work for which she has written the text and drawn the frames. The result is remarkable.

The new book arose from various flashpoints. Lindner found herself in young adulthood living just a block from the high school her father had attended in Brooklyn. She wondered what life must have been like, back in the 60s, for her parents. Around the same time, she started spending time at famous Coney Island, and the seeds of her book started to germinate. Further inspiration came from books like Charles Denson’s Coney Island: Lost and Found and Bruce Davidson’s Brooklyn Gang.

The in-depth research that Lindner undertakes at the beginning of all her projects paid off for Undertow. The book tells the story of a Coney Island tragedy and how it shapes the lives of the young people close to it (no spoilers here!). Lindner makes creative use of the typical Brooklyn chain-link fence at the beginning of chapter 3, where the symbol dominates a four-page spread, signifying the separation between the uptown boy and the “girl from across the tracks.” The frames later in the chapter that detail an afternoon in 1960s Coney Island, convey perfectly and with historical accuracy, the hot, crowded, and thrilling atmosphere of the place. Her wide-angle interpretation of the more deserted and lonely parts of the beach put a large exclamation point on the isolation and helplessness that her characters feel. This is graphic novel creation at its best.

From an educational perspective, graphic novels are unique in their ability to engage students on two different levels: as writers and as artists or art critics. The value of graphic novels (which are sometimes nonfiction, despite the name) in education lies in the connection between the artwork and the plotline of a story. The visual becomes metaphor, simile, personification, or hyperbole, opening up possibilities not available with text alone. Moreover, graphic novels are accessible to those students who struggle with text, but are able to perceive the nuances of figurative language that is presented visually. After comprehending the illustrated language, these students can move on to a deeper understanding of the text itself, including its use of poetic devices and literary techniques.

As for Ellen Lindner, her contribution of graphic storytelling to the education world has been a resounding success. Before Undertow, she used her considerable artistic talent to teach young people in the pages of three Amsco books. You may recognize her work (above) from the New Jersey English language arts ASK series, released earlier this year. In addition, Lindner has worked on Little Rock Nine, a historical piece released this year by Aladdin Paperbacks. I won’t give away what she's working on now, but Lindner is knee-deep in research, and her next project is sure to be just as successful as those that came before.

To find out more about Ellen Lindner and her work, or to buy Undertow, you can check out these sites:

http://littlewhitebird.com/index.htm

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/undertow/6335804

A World of Science in New York City

A World of Science in New York City

Starting tomorrow, June 10, the World Science Festival kicks off in New York City with an impressive Opening Night Gala Performance–an evening of music, art, and science appreciation. The event will also celebrate the 80th birthday of the great Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson (below), who will be present along with a cast of celebrities such as actors Alan Alda, Harrison Ford, and Glenn Close and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The celebration continues with a series of evening lectures and performances that runs through June 14. The festival culminates in the all-day (10 A.M. to 6 P.M.), free, family-friendly World Science Festival Street Fair on Sunday in the newly restored Washington Square Park (see above).

The dozens of different events that are being offered during the evenings (for a fee) cover such diverse topics as the brain, astronomy, robotics, science and religion, human behavior, nuclear power, birds and language acquisition, and water resources. Many notable scientists will be discussing these topics, including E. O. Wilson, anthropologist Sarah Hrdy, astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson, neurologist Oliver Sacks, evolutionary biologist Ken Miller, physicist Brian Greene, and even two cast members from one of my all-time favorite SciFi Channel shows, Battlestar Galactica (in "Cyborgs on the Horizon," a the lecture on robotics). The only down side to this series is that several wonderful events are happening at the same time on the same evenings, so it may be hard to chose which one to attend.


The World Science Festival offers a fantastic experience for science teachers and students. For complete information, visit the Web site.

Note: The site states “that some events have already sold out." Remember too, that you can also follow the World Science Festival on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.”

Questions About Charter Schools You Always Wanted Answered

Questions About Charter Schools You Always Wanted Answered

1. What Is a Charter School?

A charter school is a public school with a twist. While still accountable for standardized test scores and adequate yearly progress, charter schools are created with a charter, or a contract that stipulates certain goals the school must achieve, which are normally related to improved academic performance. In addition, charter schools receive funding not only from the state and federal government, but also from other sources, primarily the donations of large philanthropic organizations.

2. How Are Charter Schools Funded, Exactly?

In general, charter schools receive around 60% of the funding that regular public schools receive. From there, they may receive additional funds that have been appropriated specifically for charter schools from local and federal government. For example, in the 2009 budget, the U.S. government has allocated 216 million dollars for charter school grants, out of a total education budget of almost 47 billion dollars. Other major contributions for charter schools come from donations. The largest amount of money for charter schools from such a source comes from The Walton Family Foundation, run by the family that owns the Wal-Mart Corporation. Other major donors include The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Broad Foundation. The rest of the money comes from local businesses, parents, smaller donations, and the like.

3. Do Charter Schools Improve Student Performance?

The jury is still out on this question. In the past four to five years, numerous conflicting studies have been published. Some state that students who have come to charter schools from public schools perform better. Other studies, most notably one released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, show that overall, charter schools are performing worse than public schools. Some believe that by offering a choice between a regular public school and a charter school creates an environment of competition. Supporters believe that this “ups the ante” for all schools in a district, and an overall increase of about 1 percent has been shown in test scores for districts in this situation. However, opponents say that the atmosphere of competition creates an antagonistic environment that is detrimental to teacher satisfaction and, by proxy, student performance.

While test scores do offer a quantitative measure of student performance, educational research is at heart qualitative, which makes reliable research very challenging. Too many variables exist for studies to pinpoint exactly whether student performance has improved due to the creation of a charter school. For instance, the following variables could skew figures in charter-school research: the type of students that attend the charter school (low-income, high-income, low-achieving, high-achieving, etc.), the length of time the charter school has been in operation (it normally takes at least two years for a charter school to operate effectively), the amount of money a school has available and how that money is controlled, and the perception people in the community have of the charter.

4. Who Runs Charter Schools?

This is one of the variables that make research on charter-school success difficult. In some cases, the charter school is run by a school district or by a university. In other cases, the school may be run by an organization that oversees a network of charter schools, such as GreenDot or KIPP. Whichever model a charter school uses comes with pros and cons. On the one hand, a charter school has a smaller group conducting oversight compared with the mammoth bureaucracy that runs most public schools. On the other hand, opponents of charter schools feel that since a charter school is often run by a board with diverse interests (parents, donors, CEOs), decisions can be made on a self-serving basis instead of for the benefit of students. This is especially true when a charter school is run by a for-profit organization, where in some cases, students who require special services have been denied admission since they are considered “too expensive.”

5. Which Students Attend Charter Schools?

Student bodies at charter schools are often determined by the demographics of the areas in which they are located. Critics have often accused charter schools of serving the interests of higher-income families to the detriment of lower-income families who are left behind at the local public school once a charter is created. However, many charter schools serve low-income neighborhoods and take over low-performing schools with serious discipline problems, such as Locke High School in Los Angeles. In either case, students are usually selected using a lottery system since spaces is often limited and highly competitive.

6. How Do Teachers Feel About Charter Schools?

Charter schools are widely seen as places where teachers are allowed more freedom in the classroom. To avoid antagonizing teachers’ unions, many charter school organizations strive to maintain good relations with labor organizations, but these are not always “friendly,” which gives teachers pause as they consider moving to charter schools. In one common scenario, when a public school is taken over by a charter organization, the entire faculty and administration can be dismissed and only a fraction may return, after going through the same rigorous interviewing process new applicants are subject to.

7. Can My Child Go to a Charter School?

If there is a charter school in your neighborhood, there is a possibility that your child could attend, based on space available and any lottery system that may be in place. Some charter schools might have requirements for entry, such as tests or grades, if they are designed to bolster a specific subject, like a math and sciences or humanities magnet. Some states (about ten) also do not allow charter schools. If you do not have access to a charter school, various organizations are willing to help you and your community start one.

Further Reading:

U.S. Charter Schools Web Site
The 2009 Charter School Conference
Daily News Article About Harlem Charter School
Charter Schools vs. Public Schools in D. C.
Abstract of Profile of Green Dot Owner from The New Yorker