K-8 Charters: Closing the Achievement Gap
This new U.S. Department of Education publication highlights seven K-8 public charters achieving success at closing the achievement gap. As a group, they have created learning environments where historically underserved children are thriving. Schools featured in the guide are located in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Texas.
Source: United States Department of Education
Date: 2007

A Closer Look at Charter Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling
This examination of National Assessment of Educational Progress (2003) scores from 150 public charter schools and 6,764 traditional schools finds fourth-graders in traditional schools scored an average of 5.2 points better in reading than students in charters. It also shows that the traditional school students scored 5.8 points better in math than students in the public charters. The authors caution that such results could be influenced by factors other than charter school quality, including the length of time that students in the charter school sample will have spent in the charter school system, the possible attraction of parents to charter schools because they felt that their children were not well served by public noncharter schools, and the extent to which parents provide differential amounts of support and encouragement for academic achievement.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Date: 2006

Characteristics of Schools, Districts, Teachers, Principals, and School Libraries in the United States: 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey
This survey, the nation's most extensive sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, compares, for the first time, charter school students, teachers, and principals with those in traditional public schools, a variety of private schools, and BIA schools. Charter schools were more likely to enroll minority students and employee minority teachers and principals than traditional public schools. Charter schools were more likely than traditional schools to use non traditional grade structures. Charter school teachers spent an average of two more hours a week delivering instruction to students than those in traditional public schools. Charter school principals spent slightly more time interacting with students than those in traditional schools. Teachers and principals in charter schools, on average, made less income than those in traditional schools.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Date: 2006

Charter High Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap
This guide, part of the U.S. Department of Education's Innovation in Education series, profiles eight charter high schools that are helping to close the achievement gap between low-income, minority, and special need students and their peers. Although all the schools are unique, six similar characteristics unite them. The schools are mission-driven; focus on college preparation; teach for mastery; provide support; value professional learning; and hold themselves accountable. The schools were chosen in 2005 from over 400 charter high schools that are meeting academic targets under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and are closing achievement gaps by holding students to high academic standards.
Source: United States Department of Education, WestEd
Date: 2006

Charter Schools: To Enhance Education's Monitoring and Research, More Charter School Level Data Are Needed
This report examines how states allow charter schools flexibility and promote accountability. The researchers surveyed 39 states with operating charter schools in 2002-03 and found that 28 of these reported that they collected information on whether or not schools were achieving the academic goals stated in their charters. Most states provided flexibility by releasing charter schools from some traditional public school requirements. About half of the states reported a mix of authorizers, including local education agencies, public and private universities and other nonprofit organizations. The researchers found that data was sometimes difficult to obtain, particularly at the school level, in part because the Department of Education seldom identifies individual schools or distinguishes charter schools from other public schools. In a follow-up memorandum, Education officials said actions would be taken on all recommendations offered by the report.
Source: United States General Accounting Office
Date: 2005

Condition of Education 2004
The federal government's annual "Condition of Education" summarizes important developments and trends in public and private education. The 2004 edition includes 38 indicators in six main areas: (1) enrollment trends and student characteristics; (2) student achievement and the longer-term, enduring effects of education; (3) student effort and rates of progress through the educational system among different population groups; (4) contexts of elementary and secondary education in terms of courses taken, teacher characteristics, and other factors; (5) contexts of postsecondary education; and (6) societal support for learning, including parental and community support for learning, and public and private financial support of education at all levels.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Date: 2004

Creating Strong District Choice Programs
Public school choice - letting parents decide which public school is the best place for their child and allowing and enabling the transfer to that school - is a key strategy in current federal legislation aimed at improving educational outcomes. This handbook examines the choice options provided by some of the nation's districts, including open enrollment, magnet schools, alternative schools, concurrent enrollment, and charter schools. It is designed to help districts implement choice options more effectively, and draws on the experiences of five districts that have had a history of implementing choice prior to NCLB. It provides ideas that have been implemented in these districts and elsewhere, as well as relevant research and resources.
Source: United States Department of Education
Date: 2004

How Can Virtual Schools Be a Vibrant Part of Meeting the Choice Provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act?
This white paper, created for the 2004 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Leadership Summit, explores how virtual schools can be a powerful innovation for meeting the choice provisions of the NCLB Act. While parents express a strong interest in transferring their children to better-performing schools, many districts use the lack of school capacity to deny families choices of higher performing schools. Virtual schools are an acceptable, legal option for districts and states seeking to increase their capacity. The paper cites research that suggests virtual charter schools are able to provide a solid education to children who have been historically under-served by traditional school environments and programs. The authors examine the challenges for districts and states seeking to use virtual schools to fulfill the federal choice requirements and make a series of recommendations to local and state education agencies, and federal policymakers.
Source: United States Department of Education
Date: 2004

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools
This guide from the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education profiles some of the nation's highest performing charter schools. The guide is divided into two parts: The first section provides an overview of common elements of these excellent schools, including: organizational structure; leadership and mission; innovative curricula and programs; efforts to promote a community of continuous learning; partnerships with parents and the community; and accountability for results. The second section provides descriptions about each of the schools featured. The schools highlighted include Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) Academy (TX); the BASIS School (AZ); Gates Charter Language School (CA); Oglethorpe Charter School (GA); Arts and Technology Public Charter School (DC); School of Arts and Sciences Charter School (FL); Roxbury Preparatory Charter School (MA); and, Community of Peace Charter School (MN).
Source: United States Department of Education
Date: 2004

Parental Involvement: Title I, Part A: Non-regulatory Guidance
This "nonregulatory" guidance details how states, districts, and schools should communicate with parents under the No Child Left Behind Act. The guidance focuses on parents of students who qualify for the $12.3 billion Title I compensatory education program. A timeline of parental-notice requirements that details when parents should receive information on such measures as Title I meetings and school district progress reviews is provided. The document suggests what information individual student assessments and school report cards should provide and how to set up Parental Information and Resource Centers, which the law says should provide training, information, and support to parents. It also recommends that schools provide translations of printed information to parents who do not speak English. In addition, it provides advice and resources on drawing parents into the school improvement process and includes samples of parent-information policies.
Source: United States Department of Education
Date: 2004

New Charter Schools Across the Country and in DC Face Similar Start-Up Challenges
This report examines the challenges faced by charter school start-ups across the nation and the resources available in various states and DC to address the challenges. Researchers found that securing a facility, obtaining start-up funding, and, acquiring the expertise necessary to run a charter school are the three greatest challenges facing new charter school founders nationwide, although the extent of the challenges varied from state to state.
Source: United States General Accounting Office
Date: 2003

A Decade of Public Charter Schools
The report is based on data collected in 2000-2001 for an on-going evaluation of the Public Charter Schools Program for the US Department of Education. The report includes data from a national sample of charter school authorizers as well as from charter schools.
Source: SRI International
Date: 2002

Project SEARCH: Special Education as Requirements in Charter Schools
Among the more complex challenges facing charter schools is the responsibility to provide education to students with disabilities under various federal civil-rights based laws including the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Project SEARCH was a qualitative research study designed to respond to the need for clarifying information about the implementation of special education policy in the nation's public charter schools. The final report can be downloaded in PDF format. Visit the NASDSE site for further details.
Source: National Association of State Directors of Special Education
Date: 2001

Smaller, Safer, Saner Successful Schools
The federally-funded report shows how urban, suburban and rural communities have modified existing buildings or constructed new elementary, middle and high school public buildings to help increase student achievement and safety. The report was written by Dr. Joe Nathan, who directs the Center for School Change, and Karen Febey, a Humphrey Institute graduate student. The report offers twenty-two case studies illustrated by dozens of color pictures, and a summary of research showing how shared facilities and small schools have increased achievement and safety, while developing stronger community support and involvement in the schools. The case studies describe how schools have used small size or shared facilities (or both) to dramatically improve achievement, attendance and behavior.
Source: Center for School Change
Date: 2001

National Study of Charter Schools: Fourth-Year Report
This is the final installment of a four-year study by RPP International, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. This document provides descriptive information on charter schools that were operating during the 1998-99 school year. It focuses on growth trends, characteristics of charter schools and their students, reasons for founding, challenges to implementation, and autonomy and accountability.
Date: 2000

Evaluation of the Public Charter Schools Program: Year One Evaluation Report
The 52-month study, conducted by SRI International for the U.S. Department of Education, had two purposes: (1) evaluation of the rapidly growing Public Charter Schools Program and (2) continued documentation of the evolution of the charter school movement begun under the National Study of Charter Schools, conducted by RPP International. The findings reported in this document are from the first year of the SRI evaluation, which included telephone surveys of state charter school coordinators; representatives of a purposive sample of agencies that are authorized to award charters to charter schools under state charter school laws (charter school authorizers); and directors of a subset of charter schools that received PCSP grants directly from the U.S. Department of Education.
Date: No date

The Condition of Education: 2005
The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) has released the annual "The Condition of Education, detailing 40 indicators on the status and condition of education and a special analysis of the mobility of elementary and secondary school teachers. The 2005 edition includes indicators in six main areas: (1) enrollment trends and student characteristics at all levels of the education system from elementary education to adult learning; (2) student achievement and the longer term, enduring effects of education; (3) student effort and rates of progress through the educational system among different population groups; (4) the contexts of elementary and secondary education in terms of courses taken, teacher characteristics, and other factors; (5) the contexts of postsecondary education; and (6) societal support for learning, including parental and community support for learning, and public and private financial support of education at all levels.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)