Charter schools and equity: The power of accountability

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-24
Author(s):  
Helen F. Ladd ◽  
Edward B. Fiske
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
Neighborhood Schools ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
Traditional Public Schools

Many proponents of charter schools suggest that, by providing an option outside traditional public schools, they are helping disadvantaged students who might otherwise be confined to low-quality neighborhood schools. But market-based accountability structures are insufficient to ensure that charter schools are actually enrolling students (i.e., students from economically distressed families, students with disabilities, English learners, and students of color) and, once they are enrolled, providing them sufficient support. Helen Ladd and Edward Fiske use the Massachusetts system of authorization, data collection, and site visits to illustrate a high quality public accountability system for charter schools that is focused on promoting equity.

The Sorting Effect of Charter Schools on Student Composition in Traditional Public Schools

2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongmei Ni
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Charter School Policy ◽  
Student Sorting

This article investigates how Michigan’s charter school policy influences the composition of students by race and socioeconomic status in urban traditional public schools. Using 2 years of student-level data in Michigan’s urban elementary and middle schools, the dynamic student transfers between charter schools and TPSs are analyzed through a series of hierarchical generalized linear models. The two-way transfer analysis shows that the student sorting under the charter school program tends to intensify the isolation of disadvantaged students in less effective urban schools serving a high concentration of similarly disadvantaged students. The findings imply that a challenge for the state policy makers is to help disadvantaged students who are left behind in the most disadvantaged schools, without significantly reducing the benefits to students who take advantage of school choice.

scholarly journals Locating Chicago’s charter schools: A socio-spatial analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer C. LaFleur
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
The Body ◽  
High Poverty ◽  
Census Tracts ◽  
The Public ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Per Pupil Expenditures ◽  
Gis Software

This project contributes to the body of research examining the implications of the geographic location of charter schools for student access, especially in high-poverty communities. Using geographic information systems (GIS) software, this paper uses data from the U.S. Census American Community Survey to identify the socioeconomic characteristics of the census tracts in which Chicago’s charter schools tend to locate. Echoing the findings of other researchers who have examined charter school locational patterns, the present analyses found evidence of a “ceiling effect” by which many charter schools appear to locate in Chicago’s higher-needs census tracts, broadly cast, but avoid locating directly within those that are highest-need. The findings suggest that because Chicago’s charter schools face per-pupil expenditures that are often up to 20% less than those of traditional public schools, they may strategically leverage location to help shape student enrollment. By frequently locating near, but not directly within highest-need communities, charter schools may find it easier to attract a quorum of relatively higher achieving students who are less expensive to educate, therefore increasing their chances of meeting academic benchmarks and retaining their charters. By extending the findings of other researchers to the context of Chicago—where charters represent an ever-increasing share of the public school market—the present analyses may inform future revisions to the policies governing the authorization of charter schools in Chicago, with the goal of increasing access for highest-need students. 

Does the Organization of Instruction Differ in Charter Schools? Ability Grouping and Students’ Mathematics Gains

2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Mark Berends ◽  
Kristi Donaldson
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Mathematics Achievement ◽  
Ability Grouping ◽  
Market Theory ◽  
Ability Group ◽  
Achievement Gains ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Ability Groups ◽  
Group Placement

Background Although we have learned a good deal from lottery-based and quasi-experimental studies of charter schools, much of what goes on inside of charter schools remains a “black box” to be unpacked. Grounding our work in neoclassical market theory and institutional theory, we examine differences in the social organization of schools and classrooms to enrich our understanding of school choice, school organizational and instructional conditions, and student learning. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Our study examines differences in students’ mathematics achievement gains between charter and traditional public schools, focusing on the distribution and organization of students into ability groups. In short, we ask: (1) How does the distribution of ability grouping differ between charter and traditional public schools? And (2) What are the relationships between ability group placement and students’ mathematics achievement gains in charter and traditional public schools? Research Design With a matched sample of charter and traditional public schools in six states (Colorado, Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio), we use regression analyses to estimate the relationship between student achievement gains and school sector. We analyze how ability grouping mediates this main effect, controlling for various student, classroom, and school characteristics. Findings We find significant differences in the distribution of students across ability groups, with a more even distribution in charter compared to traditional public schools, which appear to have more selective placements for high groups. Consistent with prior research on tracking, we also find low-grouped students to be at a significant disadvantage when compared with high- and mixed-group peers in both sectors. Conclusions Although we find some significant differences between ability group placement and student achievement gains in mathematics, these relationships do not differ as much by sector as market theory (with its emphasis on innovation and autonomy) would predict. Consistent with institutional theory, both sectors still group students by ability and have similar relationships between gains and grouping.

scholarly journals Principalship Socialization in Charter Schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24
Author(s):  
Marytza A. Gawlik
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Elementary Schools ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Stepping Stone ◽  
School Year ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Building Level

This study explores the ways in which charter schools manage principalship socialization of individuals as they move into principalship roles. The topic is important in the context of increasing concerns about the need for quality educational principalship and the pressure charter schools face to demonstrate higher levels of student achievement than traditional public schools. Data were collected from three charter elementary schools in Florida during the 2012–2013 school year. The results reveal variation among the schools with respect to preparation for principalship transitions and subsequent socialization. This study provides a conceptual/analytic framework that can serve as a foundation for future research, which should (1) highlight the practices associated with using socialization as a stepping stone to building-level principalship and (2) compare network-based and stand-alone charter schools with respect to principalship development.

On Leadership: Meeting charter schools in the middle

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-38
Author(s):  
Joshua P. Starr
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Policy Level ◽  
System Leaders ◽  
Pros And Cons

At the policy level, it’s important to keep debating the pros and cons of charter schools, when and where to permit them, and how best to govern them. But where those schools do exist, argues PDK’s CEO, system leaders can’t afford to take sides. Much more pressing is the need to coordinate among charters and traditional public schools and ensure that they work well for all children.

scholarly journals The Qualifications and Classroom Performance of Teachers Moving to Charter Schools

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste K. Carruthers
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Classroom Performance ◽  
Low Performing Schools ◽  
Traditional Public Schools

Do charter schools draw good teachers from traditional, mainstream public schools? Using a thirteen-year panel of North Carolina public schoolteachers, I find that less qualified and less effective teachers move to charter schools, particularly if they move to urban schools, low-performing schools, or schools with higher shares of nonwhite students. It is unclear whether these findings reflect lower demand for teachers’ credentials and value added or resource constraints unique to charter schools, but the inability to recruit teachers who are at least as effective as those in traditional public schools will likely hinder charter student achievement.

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