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Charter Schools & Public School Choice Peaks and Valleys: Colorado's Charter School Landscape The Progressive Policy Institute's Todd Ziebarth reports, "On the whole, Colorado's charters outperform non-charter public schools at the elementary and middle school levels." However Ziebarth also reports that progress must still be made at the high school level. Peaks and Valleys analyzes the challenges Colorado charter schools face in the immediate future in order to provide good educational options for all students. Hopes, Fears, and Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools in 2005 Researchers Robin J. Lake and Paul T. Hill review the charter school "dustup" of 2004 and 2005 as competing studies jousted over the effectiveness of charter schools. These researchers also review the state of the charter school movement and evaluate its momentum. School Performance in Ohio's Inner Cities: Comparing Charter and District School Results in 2005 Thomas B. Fordham Foundation School Choice Issues in Depth Playing to Type? This study from the Fordham Institute establishes a "typology" of charter schools, providing a categorization process to be used by researchers in order to better compare achievement among different types of charter schools. Saving Money and Improving Education: How School Choice Can Help States Reduce Education Costs Cato expert David Salisbury uses a comprehensive and clear analysis to explain how existing choice programs make "fiscal sense." His results suggest that school choice programs could help to slow the rate of growth of local and state spending on education. Capital Campaign: Early Returns on District of Columbia Charters Charter School Quality and Parental Decision Making with School Choice Providing Quality Choice Options in Education September 2005 With increasing numbers of students attending schools other than their assigned public school, the need for quality educational options has increased. This NGA report answers questions such as, "What policies promote educational choice?" and, "How can choice programs help achieve state education goals?" Nine Lies About School Choice: Answering the Critics Thirteen years after publishing the first "Nine Lies," CER releases this revised version. Included are responses to school choice opponents' claims against school choice--such as the claim that choice programs take only the "cream" (or best students) from public schools or that choice programs violate constitutional provisions against the use of public dollars for religious purposes. August 2005 This study reviews how charter schools are funded in comparison to traditional public schools. The Fordham Institute reports that, in some states, charters receive 40% less funding than traditional schools. The report provides state and city information on the funding gap between charter schools and traditional schools. Charter School Achievement: What We Know An update of the report issued earlier in the year, researcher Bryan C. Hassel reviews 44 studies on charter schools and analyzes the results. He finds that the quality of charter school research varies; results are "mixed and of limited use"; and the results of the studies that look at change over time in charter school achievement are encouragement. Contract Schools Bring Innovative New Choices to Denver Public Schools Similar to charter schools but not subject to the state's charter law, several independent organizations have created "contract" schools with the Denver Public School system. Marya DeGrow examines the unique opportunities the schools offer to parents. Debunking the Real Estate Risk of Charter Schools Parental Choice as an Education Reform Catalyst: Global Lessons The ultimate goal of school choice programs, John Merrifield maintains, is for all families to have a “diverse menu of autonomous schooling options." However, Merrifield argues that the ultimate goal is far from being met. He suggests that many parents around the world do not know these programs are available, and in areas where school choice is available, the degree of choice is significantly limited. Chasing the Blues Away: Charter Schools Scale Up in Chicago Antecedents and Consequences of Residential Choice and School Transfer Toni Falbo, Robert W. Glover, W. Lee Holcombe, and S. Lynne Stokes This studied reviewed the transfer policies and demographics of eight large Texas school districts. The researchers found that "the results provide some support for the view that residential choice is related to enhanced achievement and satisfaction." In addition, "Parents' motivation to move their children to another school was greater when they perceived the school as less receptive to their involvement and their children as less successful in school." How Are California's Charter Schools Performing? EdSource EdSource's review of California's charter schools finds "notable" improvement toward meeting academic growth targets. The study found that "California’s classroom-based charter schools were 33 percent more likely to meet student performance goals in 2004 than were regular public schools." State of the Charter Movement 2005 This review of the charter school movement finds that today, even with 3,500 charters operating around the country, a large contingent of the general public does not understand what a charter school is. In addition, more research is needed on charter school student achievement, how charters are affecting their district, and different methods of keeping charters accountable. Competition in the Public Schools: The Market is the Answer Texas Open-Enrollment Charter Schools: 2003-2004 Evaluation This study examines Texas charter schools, including their contextual background, general characteristics, revenues and expenditures, surveys of directors, teachers, and students, and student performance. The evaluation shows varied results among the schools with generally high student satisfaction but mixed student performance. Ultimately, the article concludes that charter schools' categorization "as alternative education programs remains uncertain." Texas Roundup: Charter Schooling in the Lone Star State There are heroes and villians in the world of charter schooling--those who operate ambitious, nurturing schools and those who do not. This report surveys the charter school landscape in Texas and offers proposals on how to provide effective oversight and adequate resources to charters in the Lone Star State. A Tough Nut to Crack in Ohio: Charter Schooling in the Buckeye State Ohio ranks sixth in the nation in number of charter schools operating. Yet Progressive Policy Institute researcher Alexander Russo finds that "Ohio's charter schoosl are in a fragile state of transition" based on the policy climate in the state, and he offers recommendations for reform including strengthening accountability. Charter School Acheivement: What We Know As the charter school movement has matured, more and more data has been collected on programs around the country and an increasing number of analyses have been conducted using this data. In this study, Bryan C. Hassel reviews 38 studies published after 2000, evaluating the "central findings and methodological strengths and weaknesses" of each study. NAEP Charter School Pilot Study The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessed charter school students in reading and math in this pilot study. There was no measureable difference between charter students and traditional public school students in reading, and in mathematics, there was no measureable difference among White, Black, and Hispanic charter students and their corresponding peers in similar ethnic groups in traditional public schools. Achievement in Charter Schools and Regular Public Schools in the United States: Understanding the Differences Harvard scholar Caroline Hoxby's latest research on charter schools finds very encouraging news for students and parents. Her report included data from nearly 99 percent of elementary charter school students and found that when compared to peers at the traditional public school that charter students would have been most likely to attend, charter students are 5.2 percent more likely to be proficient in reading and 3.2 percent more likely to be proficient in math on state tests. Education Needs to Provide Additional Technical Assistance and Conduct Implementation Studies for School Choice Provision This report from the GAO reviews the first two years of school choice under No Child Left Behind. The report finds that only 1 percent of eligible students took advantage of their school transfer options under NCLB. Among the report's recommendations are those to provide more help to states in the area of informing parents about their options and conducting studies to monitor the retention rates and academic performance of transferring students. Fast Break in Indianapolis Seeds of Change in the Big Apple This study reviews the history of charter schools in New York City, the challenges that have been overcome, and the challenges still ahead for charter schools. The authors also outline ways in which the city is "poised to use charter schools to drive reform." Stimulating the Supply of New Choice for Families in Light of NCLB This study compares the reading and mathematics proficiency of charter school students in the United States to that of their fellow students in neighboring public schools. The charter schools are compared to the schools that their students would most likely otherwise attend: the nearest regular public school and the nearest regular public school with a similar racial composition. The results show 4 and 2 percent more proficiency for charter students respectively in reading and math in the first case and 5 and 3 percent in the second case. Creating New Opportunities to Learn This study provides a history of the charter school movement in the United States, reviews Washington State's charter law passed in March 2004, and offers a variety of evidence on charter school effectiveness. America Continues to Support School Choice This poll of 1,001 Americans aged 18 and older revealed that this nation continues to support the idea of school choice. The results also show "that the wording used in the Phi Delta Kappa studies to measure favorability toward school choice [negatively] biases public opinion toward the issue." Restructuring Schools in Baltimore This paper is a survey of how schools have been restructured in Baltimore under No Child Left Behind and through state reforms. The paper thoroughly evaluates what was reformed, how the changes were made, and what lessons were learned. The Rugged Frontier: A Decade of Public Charter Schools in Arizona According to this report, in its 10 years of existence, Arizona’s charter school system has led to a number of positive results. Academic excellence is reported from a high percentage of charter schools, and healthy competition has been fostered between traditional school districts and their charter counterparts. However, there are also problems with the system, and this report suggests a number of solutions. Among them are better procedures for closing “poorly performing schools,” an increase in individual school data for informed parent decisions and a “support system” in order to reproduce high quality charter schools. Innovations in Education: Creating Strong District Choice Programs The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement shows how five districts created successful school choice programs. The report offers several tactics that were found to be essential to creating more opportunities in these districts--and the report shows how they can be exported to other districts to create more strong programs. Choosing Better Schools: A Report on Student Transfers Under the No Child Left Behind Act This report "tells the story of early efforts to implement the new NCLB public school choice provision." With the data gathered, the study finds that "few school officials see NCLB choice as an important opportunity for students." In addition, "Few states have provided guidance on implementation and most districts have done little affirmative outreach to parents." Ripples of Innovation: Charter Schooling in Minnesota, the Nation's First Charter School State Minnesota was the first state to adopt a charter school law, and in this study the Progressive Policy Institute "traces the origins, evolution and impact" of Minnesota's law. Due to the pace of charter school creation in the state and the changing educational landscape under No Child Left Behind, PPI offers several lessons current legislators can use in evaluating the charter law and suggests seven changes to the law. Status Report on Georgia's Charter Schools: 2002-2003 School Year School Choice Issues in Depth: Grading Vouchers: Ranking America's School Choice Programs Charter School Funding in New York Putting the Sides Together: School Choice in Texas? This publication is a collection of seven essays by school choice proponents. Each essay addresses school choice reform from a different angle and thoroughly examines the challenges to choice-based reform. Comparison of Traditional Public Schools and Charter Schools on Retention, School Switching, and Achievement Growth This study of Arizona charter and traditional public school students compared test scores in order to "determine the net effect" the type of school had on a student's achievement. Researchers found that charter students started with lower test scores but "showed overall annual achievement growth roughly three points higher than their non-charter peers." Flexible Approach to Education Delivery Makes Alberta a Leader Fraser Institute Education Policy Director Claudia R. Hepburn writes, "Alberta is Canada's reason for optimism about education. On national and international achievement tests, Alberta's students consistently score at or near the top, and they achieve this, it seems, not because Alberta out-spends the other provinces, but because it takes a more flexible, decentralized and customer-friendly approach to education delivery than do the other provinces." Delivering Better Education: Market Solutions for Educational Improvement In this paper the Adam Smith Institute outlines the need for market-based reform in England's education system. Based around three core principles (equality, autonomy and diversity), the authors recommend ways in which successful reforms such as vouchers and charter schools can be imported to help students in England's schools. The Promise and Peril of Charter Schools End State and Local Budget Deficits with School Choice Public school’s per pupil expenditures have increased 22.8 percent over the past two decades, with unfortunately high costs are associated with low student performance. Focusing on the concept of ‘school choice’ merely as an innovation in education does not allow viewing the potential of this concept to reduce the size of education budget. This paper suggests four ways to reach this goal. School Choice: Doing It the Right Way Makes a Difference School choice is a reality. It comes in many different forms and exists at the local, state and--possibly soon in Washington, D.C.--at the Federal level. The question for anyone involved in education is not if school choice should exist, but what form it should take. What makes a successful choice program? In this report, the Commission outlines what promotes student achievement within choice programs and what does not. The Struggle for School Choice Policy After Zelman: Regulation vs. the Free Market In the post-Zelman school choice movement, the details of how choice programs are constructed become even more important. How can legislation be drafted to bring out the best in a free market system? In this paper, the researcher "uses a national survey of private schools as a basis for analyzing the potential effects of various regulations." Our History of Educational Freedom: What It Should Mean for Families Today In this report, researchers examine the tradition of educational freedom in America. The authors write, "America's ethos of educational freedom has always been strong, tied to our values of pluralism, tolerance, and free inquiry. But our legacy of freedom has suffered repeated assaults by individuals and groups who wish to use state control over schooling to homogenize American culture." Charter Schools in Indianapolis: 2003 Accountability Report Draft Five-Year Report to the Governor and the Legislature on the Charter School Approach This report on the nature, composition, and characteristics of New York charter schools offers a look at charter school demographics and student performance. The study shows that, after four years of operation, more charter schools met or exceeded the state's Performance Index than after the first year of operation. What the Research Reveals About Charter Schools September 2003 This third edition of this CER study summarizes and catalogs the major research compiled in the first two studies, and it also contains abstracts and source data on studies completed since the last edition. The evidence is clear: charter schools are improving education for America's kids. Closing the Education Achievement Gap: Is Title I Working? Apples to Apples: An Evaluation of Charter Schools Serving General Student Populations Charter School Operations and Performance: Evidence from California Ron Zimmer, Richard Buddin, Derrick Chau, Glenn Daley, Brian Gill, Cassandra Guarino, Laura Hamilton, Cathy Krop, Dan McCaffrey, Melinda Sandler, and Dominic Brewer This study conducted by RAND, a non-profit research and analysis institute, shows that California charter school students perform at least as well academically as their traditional public school peers. This is notable since charter schools receive less funding than public schools, typically enroll more academically-challenged students, and tend to have less experienced teachers. The study also found that students in new charter schools (as opposed to converted public schools) perform slightly better than those in traditional public schools. Charter School Authorizing: Are States Making the Grade? Does School Choice Increase School Quality? Trends in the Use of School Choice 1993 - 1999 The survey shows that more families, particularly those with lower incomes, are participating in “public-school choice,” sending their children to schools other than their assigned schools. Further, the National Center for Education Statistics found that parents of students in private-schools or public schools of choice were “more likely to say they were very satisfied with their children’s schools, teachers, academic standards, and order and discipline” than were parents of students attending a public school to which they had been assigned. Charter Schools 2002: Results from CER’s Annual Survey of America’s Charter Schools Results from the Center for Education Reform’s 2002 Survey of American Charter Schools show that charter schools, in addition to educating children who are poorly served by traditional public schools, are both cost-effective and innovative. Charter School Closures: The Opportunity for Accountability This paper discusses the various difficulties Connecticut charter schools have endured, causing several to close and leaving several with insufficient funds for adequate playground, athletic, performance, and scientific facilities. The paper also discusses charter students’ performance on standardized tests (slightly lower than state levels, potentially due to the type of students charters attract, especially at the high school level), and other quality standards like student, parent, and teacher satisfaction with education quality (all voted the quality either high or improving). The Approval Barrier to Suburban Charter Schools Harvard professor Caroline Hoxby found that competition from charter schools in Michigan and Arizona, and from Milwaukee’s voucher program, compelled public schools to raise their productivity, as measured by students’ achievement gains. Challenge and Opportunity: The Impact of Charter Schools on Districts Challenge and Opportunity: The Impact of Charter Schools on Districts,” reported that districts improved their services and operations in response to competition from charter schools. A Decade of Public Charter Schools, Evaluation of the Public Charter Schools Program: 2000-2001 Evaluation Report The 2000–2001 evaluations of the Public Charter Schools Program, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, found that charter schools are smaller than traditional public schools, enjoy strong parental involvement, and serve diverse populations of students. |
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