By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

CHICAGO – While an estimated 350,000 Chicago public school students are cheated out class time by the Chicago Teachers Union’s ongoing strike, roughly 52,000 kids continue their studies uninterrupted at the city’s public charter schools.

That’s a reality Chicago charter school operators hope will drive more parents to consider alternatives to government schools and their never-ending union strife.

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“ … (I)t will awaken parents’ interest in terms of ‘Why can’t we have more choice’ and ‘Why do we have to be stuck without having a voice,” Juan Rangel, CEO of United Neighborhood Organization (a charter school operator), told the Chicago Tribune. “I think parents are going to be frustrated when they see 50,000 kids having an education, going to school without interruption and their kids are not.”

The strike also illustrates the fundamentally different (and refreshing) approach to education applied in charter schools.

Leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union are at odds with city officials over the specifics of teacher evaluations, particularly the weight that student test scores will have in teacher reviews.

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to base 40 percent of teachers’ evaluation on student test scores, but CTU President Karen Lewis won’t have it. She convinced teachers to abandon their students because she doesn’t believe they should be held accountable for their performance.

But in the city’s charter schools, teachers readily accept much higher accountability standards, with 50 percent of their evaluations based on student test scores. Teachers in charters are also paid according to their performance, and some can earn up to an $8,000 cash bonus if their students excel, ABC News reports.

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The difference in student achievement is staggering. While only 8 in 100 Chicago Public Schools students eventually receive a college degree, a very high percentage of UNO graduates go on to college, the television station reports.

“We aren’t protected, as far as our jobs, if we don’t perform,” Jamie Blumenthal, an UNO teacher, told ABC News.

That’s the way it should be.

For more on the differences between Chicago public and charter schools, check out the EAGnews.org documentary “A Tale of Two Missions,” hosted by Juan Williams of the Fox News Channel.