Texas, for example, allows charter schools to set their own standards using statewide assessment instruments. Rhode Island s and Wisconsin s state education goals and standards apply to charter schools, but assessments are not defined in the law. To measure the success of charter schools relative to other schools, the same standards and assessments should be used. Allowing charter schools to develop their own standards and assessments makes evaluation more difficult and creates the potential for data manipulation by the charter school. Standards and assessments should be established in the charter petition.
Many charter schools have unique educational designs and innovations.
They should be able to create goals and measurements that best match their school. Charter schools missions and curricula often include goals that are not covered by statewide standards and assessments. Charter schools should be able to create measures that work best with their own goals. States should require a combination of statewide and charter school-determined standards and assessments. A combined approach allows flexibility, while still providing an adequate means of comparison between charter school and local school students.