DECATUR - Some 95 percent of students at Robertson Charter School qualify as low income. More than 90 percent of them ride the bus to school from all over the Decatur School District.

And those kids performed above district averages on 12 of 17 low-income student performance measures on state testing, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.

The Illinois Policy Institute is a nonpartisan research organization that supports free market principles and liberty-based public policy initiatives, according to its Web site.

A study released June 1 focused on six downstate charter schools as examples of success with low-income students.

"The beauty of charter school is that no two are same," said Collin Hitt, director of education policy for the institute. "What Robertson does in Decatur is different from what Ball does in Springfield. Charter schools tend to be more successful, have more freedom to adapt to local needs, to students, to faculty talents, and that's a recipe for success."

Robertson's CEO, Bishop G.E. Livingston, agrees. Charter schools are free from some of the regulations that regular public schools must follow, giving them the flexibility to try new things.

"We have the privilege of trying new and innovative things, and if they don't work out, we stop doing them fairly quickly. But if they do work out, we continue to enhance those things," he said.

Of course, while charter schools are free from some regulations, they also don't receive as much funding from as many sources as regular district schools do. That calls for creativity as well, he said. The administrators have to be very good at managing money and finding grants and donations to pick up the financial slack.

Accountability is another important key, Livingston said. If a teacher isn't working out in one position, administration can move or remove that teacher. They can reward an outstanding teacher and offer incentives.

The school also prides itself on teamwork. Every member of the staff - teachers, bus drivers, custodians and administration - attends the annual summer retreat before the school year begins.

"The same student that's in class is also on the bus," Livingston said. "It's communication on every level, teamwork or a family environment."

Robertson invests heavily in technology and puts a great deal of emphasis on character education, Livingston said. The school day is also about 45 minutes longer than in a traditional school. All of those things help kids succeed.

Many of the regulations placed on traditional public schools are needless red tape, Hitt said.

"The lesson (in the study) is, give parents more choices, seek out ways to operate independently, ask for troublesome regulations to be removed and work with charter schools to seek out those same freedoms," he said.

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