It's entirely dependent on the particular school. Some charter schools are no different then public schools in their methods, curriculum or staff. Others take a

It's entirely dependent on the particular school. Some charter schools are no different then public schools in their methods, curriculum or staff. Others take a focused approach to certain types of studies (math and science in particular). Others use rote memorization in order to boost test scores. I believe what the original post was talking about though is something else entirely. Public schools are forced to take any student that is zoned to go there. Charter schools may pick and choose which students attend. In some cases this means that the schools are selecting only those students that will excel at the school thus making the school look better than perhaps it really is. There are charter schools on the end of the spectrum as well. My wife spent a year teaching at a charter school that took in lots of students that were behavior problems in the public schools and who's parents weren't willing to work with the administration/district. That school performs below the level of the public schools. If you look at charter schools, a very small percentage performs better than average, a very small percentage performs worse than average, and the majority are no better than public schools.