In the United States of America, a very common feature is the charter schools. It is to be noted that while charter schools are a variant of public schools, there are certain essential differences. The charter schools are those which do not have to resort to the necessary rules and regulations that are essential for the public schools to follow in exchange of some form of liability by producing certain results which are codified in the school's charter. Charter schools are usually funded as well as founded by those who feel that the medium of education and imparting of knowledge within the stipulated boundaries of traditional public schools are not enough to determine the development of the child. In most cases, it is the activists, teachers, even parents and non profit organizations who usually join hands to lead the foundation of these charter schools. It is interesting to note that since these charter schools are excluded from any form of allegiance to the norms that guide the public schools, these usually function as autonomous organizations that set down their own codes of rule. Therefore, they can exercise a certain amount of flexibility in terms of their running of the charter schools. In terms of the syllabi and the teaching techniques incorporated by the charter schools, there is no form of restriction and they are free to experiment using newer and innovative techniques. However, all this relaxations have a single purpose which is laid down in the school's charter. The charter schools are required to prove their mettle and perform better than the traditional public schools.

The most important component with reference to the functioning of charter schools is the charter itself. The charter of the school consists of the programs, aims and rues and regulations that are considered to be of prime necessity by the school authorities. The charter schools are primarily answerable to a single authority which may be the state education authority, local school boards etc. The charter is issued by a chartering authority and this authority usually varies from state to state in the United States of America. While in some states it is the state education department which issues the charter, in some it may be local school district while non profit organizations may also be the chartering authorities. There are also certain for-profit organizations which act as the chartering authority. But evidences have proved that such fro-profit schools have in most cases failed to outshine the performance of the traditional public schools, despite receiving greater funds.