Grading charter schools Today's best articles Daily business briefing Solving COVID newsletter Independent alternatives to public schools have sprung up across the nation. Are they succeeding? Here's everything you need to know: What are charter schools? They're publicly funded, independently run alternatives to traditional public schools. They have greater freedom than standard public schools to develop their own curricula and budgets, hire and fire teachers over performance, and set schedules and behavioral rules such as mandating uniforms. The "charter" in the name refers to a contract between the school and a state oversight body, or "authorizer." Since the first charter school opened in Minnesota in 1992, their numbers have boomed to more than 7,500 charter schools across 43 states and the District of Columbia. More than 3.3 million students now attend one â a number that's tripled since 2006. In some cities, including Detroit and New Orleans, a majority of public school students attend charter schools. The charter school movement remains highly controversial, but most experts agree that the best charters are producing phenomenal results. "There's a group at the top that are just remarkably successful in terms of helping students move forward," Margaret Raymond, the director of Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), told