While all charter schools make academic promises, the Academy of the Pacific Rim, a Boston charter, may be the first to put a guarantee in writing. The "Learning Guarantee" instituted by the school this spring says that students who have attended the school for four years will pass a statewide assessment test given in the 10th grade. The school's director, Stacey Boyd, points out that there are guarantees for "mufflers, power tools, automobiles, airline services, and dozens of other products and services in America. Yet no service, save perhaps health care, matters as much to a person's livelihood as the education they receive."
Located in Boston's Hyde Park, the academy "combines the respect for education and discipline found in the East with the emphasis on individuality and diversity found in the West." The guarantee requires that parents sign a weekly progress report and that students attend tutoring sessions if they are falling behind. If these conditions are met and a student fails the test, he is free to attend any other school of his choice. The Academy will then transfer the state's per-pupil expenditure to any public school or pay the same amount to any private school.
It's another good idea the teachers unions will no doubt want to kill.