On average, the funding gap between charter schools and traditional schools is 22 percent, or $1,800 per pupil. The average charter school ends up with a total funding shortfall of nearly half a million dollars.
Source: Charter School Funding: Inequity’s Next Frontier
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Charter Schools Job Board
USCharterSchools.org offers a free regularly-updated charter school job board. Currently, over 200 jobs are posted. Positions range from part-time tutors to classroom teachers to CEOs of charter associations. Job-seekers may also post their resumes for up to 90 days for online viewing.
National Charter School Data 2005
Every year, the Center for Education Reform (CER) releases information about the growth of charter schools across the U.S. During the past year, charter schools grew by over 13 percent and now account for four percent of all of the nation's public schools. The increase comes despite caps being reached in at least seven states. The largest numbers of students in charter schools are in grades K-8 (52 percent). California leads the states with highest enrollment numbers at 219,480 and 81 charters opened this year. The District of Columbia leads the nation with a market share of public schools at 26 percent. CER provides data online that detail the total number of operating charter schools and enrollment state-by-state; charter schools in operation by year opened; and grade levels served by charter schools. It also offers research fact-sheets and public opinion data about charter schools
CharterAmerica Weekly Webcast
"CharterAmerica" with Ember Reichgott Junge, former Minnesota State Senator and co-author of its first-in-nation charter school law, is a weekly Internet talk radio show about charter schools. Student stories, teacher and director interviews, commentary from public education leaders, and parent perspectives are provided during the three-hour show which broadcasts every Wednesday at 6 pm Eastern on the VoiceAmerica Channel. Recent shows discussed learning outside the classroom, charter authorizing, art-based education programs, literacy, and students moving from home schools to charter schools.
Playing to Type? Mapping the Charter School Landscape
This study, based on a sorting of 1,182 charter schools, presents a typology based on school philosophy, curriculum and/or instructional strategy, mode of delivery, and intended student population. The author finds that nearly 30 percent of charter schools, including many conversion schools, offer a general curriculum that is essentially indistinguishable from conventional district public schools. A nearly equal number of charters schools offer a "progressive" program, placing a premium on individual development. Classroom activities are often student-centered, hands-on, project-based, and cooperative in nature and often students assume accountability for their learning. "Traditional" programs are the third largest type of charter schools, and are more likely to be teacher-centered with focus on high standards in academics and behavior, discipline, and other earmarks of a "back-to-basics" approach.
Free to Learn: Lessons from Model Charter Schools
This book chronicles the record of seven California charter schools that are achieving impressive results. The authors discuss the instruction methods used in the schools and offer a collection of lessons learned. Findings include: high-achieving schools focus on strong academics and discipline; set strong standards; institute rigorous teacher evaluations and accountability systems; and employ school leaders who are good fiscal managers. The book concludes with a resource guide for families, offering a "Do and Don't" checklist to use when evaluating the quality of a charter school. These resources are also available at the Pacific Research Institute’s website at http://www.pacificresearch.org.
Charter Schools and Urban Development
This brief examines the marriage of charter schools and housing developers. Increasingly, subdivision developers are including charter schools in their designs to increase housing sales and to lower controversy over where new children can go to public school. Several examples are included in the document. In 1997, the Miami-based Excel Development Corporation was one of the first builders to put a charter school in a housing development. Now it operates a chain of charter schools across the state. In Los Angeles, Rob MacLeod renovated the Sheraton Townhouse Hotel into affordable housing. The $18 million project includes 142 bedroom units for low-income families, stores, offices, and an on-site charter school. The author suggests that as partnerships between charter schools and housing developments continue, urban renewal and neighborhood revitalization initiatives will stand to benefit families, developing inner cities and public schools.
The Effect of Charter Schools on Traditional Public School Students in Texas
Controlling for student background, this study examines the effect of charter schools on Texas' traditional school achievement. Researchers find a positive and significant effect of charter schools on traditional public school student outcomes. "Charter penetration" in a community is found to be effective in raising performance of students remaining behind in traditional public schools, especially when students are at schools that were performing below average. The authors suggest their data support the move to expand school choice to generate systemic gains.
School Performance in Ohio’s Inner Cities: Comparing Charter and District School Results in 2005
This study offers an "apples-to-apples" comparison of charter school and district school achievement in four major Ohio cities: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton. The results reveal that most urban public charter and traditional schools in the state are struggling. The analysis, using 2005 School Report Card data from the Ohio Department of Education, shows that in Cincinnati and Columbus, district schools generally outperformed charters, but in Cleveland performance was split. Dayton district schools and charter schools performed almost equally in all grades, except in 8th grade where charters were ahead. The report also tracks district and charter school ratings and performance over time.
Charter School Performance on NAEP
An analysis by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools shows that public charter school students gained at a faster rate than traditional public school students on the reading portion of the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Fourth graders, particularly Hispanic, African-American, and low-income students, attending charter schools across the country, made notable strides in reading and math. Performance faltered at the 8th grade level. There, charter students trailed other public school students in math and reading.
Capital Campaign: Early Returns on District of Columbia Charters
Washington, D.C. public charter schools, which enroll more than one in five public school students, are the subject of this new Progressive Policy Institute report. More than 98 percent of the charter students in the district’s 51 charter schools are black or Hispanic and 74 percent come from low-income families. Test score analysis show these students outperform their peers in the city’s traditional schools: 54.4 percent of charter school students are proficient in math versus 44.19 percent of students in traditional schools. In reading, 45.37 percent of charter school students are proficient, compared to 39.14 percent for other public schools. The author offers several recommendations, including: charter schools should receive expanded access to space in District of Columbia Public Schools buildings; low performing charter schools should be closed; authorizer roles should be clarified; and the quality and accessibility of data should be improved.
Assessment of New York City Charter School Math Scores
In an analysis by the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence, researchers found that 65 percent of 8th grade NYC public charter school students met or exceeded state proficiency standards compared with 41 percent of all city 8th graders. Nearly 77 percent of all 4th graders in NYC charter schools met or exceeded standards on the state math test, improving their average scores over last year by 9.6 percentage points. That compares with 77 percent of all city 4th graders -- an increase of 9.3 percentage points from last year.
Exploring the Correlates of Academic Success in Pennsylvania Charter Schools
This study examines which uses of charter school autonomy are more academically productive than others. The researchers find that schools with higher degrees of perceived accountability produce stronger score growth. Similarly, charter schools with higher degrees of teacher mission commitment and leadership stability produce stronger growth rates in reading and math. Schools with higher degrees of classroom autonomy appear to have lower growth rates, perhaps reflecting recent research on the importance of shared professional culture in teaching and learning. Finally, parent volunteerism appears to be negatively associated with score growth, though the researchers question whether this is simply a proxy for poor governance. The study recommends that charter school developers couple autonomy with strong professional norms and a sense of mission.
2006 National Charter Schools Conference
U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is now scheduled to participate live, via satellite, on March 2 at the 2006 National Charter Schools Conference (to be held February 28 - March 3, 2006 in Sacramento, CA).* In a conversation with John Merrow (host of PBS' Learning Matters), she will discuss the impact of what is happening in New Orleans on the overall charter school movement. Other featured speakers include Bill Nye the Science Guy and a host of national charter experts and advocates who will share their perspectives on the state of the charter movement. View programming (over 170 sessions and table-talk discussions to choose from) and speaker details, as well as register and make hotel reservations at the conference web site at http://www.charterconference.org. To register by phone, call 800-280-6218. *Participation subject to Senator Landrieu's schedule.
Regional Policy Meetings
In September and October 2005, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools hosted regional policy meetings so charter stakeholders from around the nation could discuss national policy priorities. Representatives from state associations, resource centers, charter schools, state legislatures, state departments of education, community-based organizations, and foundations from 22 states met to discuss facility challenges, funding gaps, the federal Charter School Program, implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Debriefing memos from meetings held in Albuquerque, Atlanta, Chicago, and Providence detail the discussions and resulting recommendations and are now available on the Alliance’s homepage.
Expanding the Supply of High-Quality Public Schools
This paper, a collaboration of the Bridgespan Group, NewSchools Venture Fund, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discusses ways to expand the supply of high-quality public schools and examines specific examples of current strategies and providers. The authors explain that two "levers" play key roles in determining how quickly and consistently successful schools and design models can be replicated. The first is the degree of managerial responsibility, support, and control an organization chooses to exercise. The other is related to specificity of school design. The document explores the strategies and trade-offs of several associations, design teams, franchises, portfolios, for-profit education management organizations, and non-profit charter management organizations.
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