Charter schools are tuition-free public schools operated by independent organizations. Freed from many rules and topdown policies constraining district-operated schools, charter school leaders have direct control over most school-level decisions. Indiana has the best charter school law in the country, according to the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools, because it allows full operational flexibility and provides true accountability for school performance. Indiana's brick-and-mortar K-12 charter schools serve a higher percentage of students of color and low-income students than the traditional public schools. Yet, on state standardized tests, these charter school students outperform their peers at traditional public schools. In both 2016 and 2017, the state rated a higher percentage of charters as "A" schools and a lower percentage as "D" or "F" schools than traditional public schools serving similar student populations.