If the schools do not demonstrate improved student achievement, the school s charter will not be renewed. The willingness to be held accountable for the outcomes of the schools is a unique feature of charter school leaders and teachers. Finally, an inspection team visits the school for 3 days to collaborate the material present by the school in its application for renewal. Charter schools are a significant educational innovation because they combine freedom at the school level and accountability for results. In addition, in the organization and curriculum of the individual charter schools there are many innovative practices.
Choice runs throughout the charter school concept.
Parents have the power to choose a charter school that matches their own beliefs or goals about education for their children. Principals have the freedom to select and evaluate faculty and teachers can choose to work in a school that matches their beliefs about educational practice. The power of choice is significant as it encourages a sense of ownership and participation in the work of the school. For each child a Commonwealth charter school enrolls, it receives a sum from the state equal to the average cost per student in the school district in which the child resides. The state then deducts the same amount from the sending district s state aid account.