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Charter schools in the United States are
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or
secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...
institutions that are funded through taxation and operated by private organizations, rather than local
school districts A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, whic ...
. They do not charge tuition, as they are funded with public tax dollars.
Charter schools A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
are subject to fewer rules than traditional
state schools State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary educational institution, schools that educate all students without charge. They are ...
. Proponents argue that they are meant to serve underserved communities that wish to have alternatives to their neighborhood school. There are both non-profit and for-profit charter schools, and only non-profit charters can receive donations from private sources. However, there are several ways that non-profit charters can profit. As of 2016–2017 there were an estimated 6,900 public charter schools in 42 states and the District of Columbia (2016–17) with approximately 3.1 million students, a sixfold increase in enrollment over the past 15 years. In 2015 alone, more than 400 new charter schools opened while 270 schools closed due to low enrollment, lack of finances or low performance. Waiting lists grew from an average of 233 in 2009 to 277 in 2012, with places allocated by a
lottery A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of ...
. They educate the majority of children in
New Orleans Public Schools The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) governs the public school system that serves New Orleans, Louisiana. It includes the entirety of Orleans Parish, coterminous with New Orleans. The OPSB directly administers 6 schools and has granted charter ...
.''RSD looks at making charters pay rent'', The Times-Picayune, December 18, 2009. Some charter schools provide a specialized
curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...
(for example in arts, mathematics, or vocational training). Charter schools may be founded by individuals or groups. Some for-profit corporations manage multiple charter schools. The first charter school law was in
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
in 1991.


History

The charter school idea in the United States had several originating sources. In 1971,
UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
professors Stephen Sugarman and Jack Coons published "Family Choice in Education" which outlined the concept of a charter school model. This idea, called "Independent Public Schools" was expanded on in their 1978 volume, "Education by Choice." The term "charter schools" was defined In 1974 by
University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...
professor Ray Budde.
Albert Shanker Albert Shanker (September 14, 1928 – February 22, 1997) was president of the United Federation of Teachers from 1964 to 1985 and president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) from 1974 to 1997. Early life Shanker was born on Manhatta ...
, president of the
American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 perc ...
, embraced the concept in 1988, when he called for the reform of the public schools by establishing "charter schools" or "schools of choice."
Gloria Ladson-Billings Gloria Jean Ladson-Billings (born 1947) is an American pedagogical theorist and teacher educator known for her work in the fields of culturally relevant pedagogy and critical race theory, and the pernicious effects of systemic racism and economic ...
called him "the first person to publicly propose charter schools." At the time, a few schools already existed that were not called charter schools but embodied some of their principles, such as
H-B Woodlawn The H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program, commonly referred to as H-B, or HBW, is a democratic alternative all-county public school located in Arlington County, Virginia, United States based on the liberal educational movements of the 1960s and 1970s. ...
. As originally conceived, the ideal model of a charter school was as a legally and financially autonomous
public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
(without tuition, religious affiliation, or selective student admissions) that would operate much like a private business—free from many state laws and district regulations, and accountable more for student outcomes rather than for processes or inputs (such as Carnegie Units and teacher certification requirements).
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
was the first state to pass a charter school law in 1991.
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
was second, in 1992. , 43 states and the
District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
have charter school laws, according to the Center for Education Reform. As of 2012, an authorizer other than a local school board has granted over 60 percent of charters across the country. Between 2009 and 2012, the percent of charter schools implementing performance-based compensation increased from 19 percent to 37 percent, while the proportion that is unionized decreased from 12 percent to 7 percent. The most popular educational focus is college preparation (30 percent), while 8 percent focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Another 16 percent emphasize Core Knowledge. Blended Learning (6 percent) and Virtual/Online learning (2 percent) are in use. When compared to traditional public schools, charters serve a more disadvantaged student population, including more low-income and minority students. Sixty-one percent of charter schools serve a student population where over 60 percent qualify for the federal Free or Reduced Lunch Program. Charter schools receive an average 36 percent less revenue per student than traditional public schools, and receive no facilities funds. The number of charters providing a longer school day grew from 23 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2012.


General structure and characteristics

The rules and structure of charter schools depend on state authorizing legislation and differ from state to state. A charter school is authorized to function once it has received a
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
, a statutorily defined performance
contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. The length of time for which charters are granted varies, but most are granted for 3–5 years.


Operational autonomy

Often, charters create unique school cultures to tailor to students, particularly minority students in urban school districts, whose school performance is affected by social phenomena including
stereotype threat Stereotype threat is a situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social group. It is theorized to be a contributing factor to long-standing racial and gender gaps in acad ...
,
acting white In the United States, acting white is a pejorative term, usually applied to black people, which refers to a person's perceived betrayal of their culture by assuming the social expectations of white society.
, non-dominant
cultural capital In the field of sociology, cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society. Cultural capital functions as a social relat ...
, and a "code of the street". Most teachers, by a 68 percent to 21 percent margin, say schools would be better for students if principals and teachers had more control and flexibility about work rules and school duties.


Accountability for student achievement

Charter schools are accountable for student achievement to their sponsor — a local
school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
, state education agency, university, or other entity — for producing positive
academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
results and adhere to the charter contract. While this accountability is one of the key arguments in favor of charters, evidence gathered by the
United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
suggests that charter schools may not, in practice, be held to higher standards of accountability than traditional public schools. Typically, these schools are allowed to remain open, perhaps with new leadership or restructuring, or perhaps with no change at all. Charter school proponents assert that charter schools are not given the opportunities to restructure often and are simply closed down when students perform poorly on these assessments. , 12.5% of the over 5000 charter schools founded in the United States had closed for reasons including academic, financial, and managerial problems, and occasionally consolidation or district interference. A 2013 Study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
institute linked overall improvement of the charter school sector to charter school closures, suggesting that charter schools as a whole are not getting better, but the closure of bad schools is improving the system as a whole. Many charter schools are created with the original intent of providing a unique and innovative educational experience to its students. However, charter schools are still held accountable for test scores, state mandates, and other traditional requirements that often have the effect of turning the charter school into a similar model and design as the public schools. Although the U.S. Department of Education's findings agree with those of the
National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college stude ...
(NEA), their study points out the limitations of such studies and the inability to hold constant other important factors, and notes that "study design does not allow us to determine whether or not traditional public schools are more effective than charter schools."


Chartering authorities

Chartering authorizers, entities that may legally issue charters, differ from state to state, as do the bodies that are legally entitled to apply for and operate under such charters. In some states, like
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
, the State Board of Education authorizes charters. In other states, like
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, only the local school district may issue charters. Some school districts may authorize charter schools as part of a larger program for systemic improvement, such as the Portfolio strategy. States including
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
and the
District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
have created independent charter-authorizing bodies to which applicants may apply for a charter. The laws that permit the most charter development, as seen in
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
and
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, allow for a combination of such authorizers. As of 2012, 39% of charters were authorized by local districts, 28% by state boards of education, 12% by state commissions, with the remainder by universities, cities and others.


Caps

Andrew Rotherham, co-founder of Education Sector and opponent of charter school caps, has written, "One might be willing to accept this pent-up demand if charter school caps, or the debate over them, were addressing the greater concern of charter school quality. But this is not the case. Statutory caps as they exist now are too blunt a policy instrument to sufficiently address quality. They fail to differentiate between good schools and lousy schools and between successful charter school authorizers and those with a poor track record of running charter schools. And, all the while, they limit public schooling options and choices for parents."


Demographics

The U.S. Department of Education's 1997 First Year Report, part of a four-year national study on charters, was based on interviews of 225 charter schools in 10 states. The report found charters tended to be small (fewer than 200 students) and represented primarily new schools, though some schools had converted to charter status. Charter schools often tended to exist in urban locations, rather than rural. This study also found enormous variation among states. Charter schools tended to be somewhat more racially diverse, and to enroll slightly fewer students with special needs or limited English proficiency than the average schools in their state.


Funding

Charter school funding is dictated by each state. In many states, charter schools are funded by transferring per-pupil state aid from the school district where the charter school student resides. Charters on average receive less money per-pupil than the corresponding public schools in their areas, though the average figure is controversial because some charter schools do not enroll a proportionate number of students that require special education or student support services. Additionally, some charters are not required to provide transportation and nutrition services. The Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Part B, Sections 502–511 authorizes funding grants for charter schools. In August 2005, the Thomas B. Fordam Institute, a pro-charter group, published a national report of charter school finance. It found that across 16 states and the District of Columbia—which collectively enrolled 84 percent of that year's one million charter school students—charter schools receive about 22 percent less public funding per-pupil than the district schools that surround them, a difference of about $1,800. For a typical charter school of 250 students, that amounts to about $450,000 per year. The study asserts that the funding gap is wider in most of twenty-seven urban school districts studied, where it amounts to $2,200 per student, and that in cities like San Diego and Atlanta, charters receive 40% less than traditional public schools. The funding gap was largest in South Carolina, California, Ohio, Georgia, Wisconsin and Missouri. The report suggests that the primary driver of the district-charter funding gap is charter schools' lack of access to local and capital funding. A 2010 study found that charters received 64 percent of their district counterparts, averaging $7,131 per pupil compared to the average per pupil expenditure of $11,184 in the traditional public schools in 2009/10 compared to $10,771 per pupil at conventional district public schools. Charters raise an average of some $500 per student in additional revenue from donors. However, funding differences across districts remain considerable in most states that use local property taxes for revenue. Charters that are funded based on a statewide average may have an advantage if they are located in a low-income district, or be at a disadvantage if located in a high-income district.


Virtual charter schools

In November 2015, the first major study into online charter schools in the United States, the National Study of Online Charter Schools, was published. It found "significantly weaker academic performance" in mathematics and reading in such schools when they were compared to conventional ones. The study was the result of research carried out in 17 US states which had online charter schools, and was conducted by researchers from the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
,
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
and
Mathematica Policy Research Mathematica, formerly Mathematica Policy Research, is an American research organization and consulting company headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. The company provides data science, social science, and technological services for social policy ...
. It concluded that keeping online pupils focused on their work was the biggest problem faced by online charter schools, and that in mathematics the difference in attainment between online pupils and their conventionally educated peers equated to the cyber pupils missing a whole academic year in school.


State-specific structure and regulations

State laws follow varied sets of key organizing principles based on the Citizens League's recommendations for Minnesota,
American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 perc ...
guidelines, or federal charter-school legislation (U.S. Department of Education). Principles govern sponsorship, number of schools, regulatory waivers, degree of fiscal/legal autonomy, and performance expectations.


Center for Education Reform The Center for Education Reform is an education reform organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1993, CER advocates for school choice. Legislation The Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act (H.R. 10; 113th ...
ranking

Current laws have been characterized as either "strong" or "weak." "Strong-law" states mandate considerable autonomy from local labor-management agreements and bureaucracy, allow a significant number of charter schools to be authorized by multiple charter-granting agencies, and allocate a level of funding consistent with the statewide per pupil average. According to the Center for Education Reform, a pro-charter group, in 2015 the
District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
,
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
,
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
,
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, and
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
had the "strongest" laws in the nation.
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
are home to the nation's "weakest" laws, according to the same ranking.


National evaluations

Multiple researchers and organizations have examined educational outcomes for students who attend charter schools. In general, urban charter schools may appear to be a good alternative to traditional urban schools for urban minority students in poor neighborhoods, if one looks strictly at test scores, but students in suburban charter schools do no better than those in traditional suburban schools serving a mostly middle-class white population.


Center for Research on Education Outcomes

CREDO studies charter schools and has completed two national reports for 2009 and 2013. The report is the first detailed national assessment of charter schools. The reports analyze the impact of charter schools in 26 states and find a steady improvement in charter school quality since 2009. The authors state, "On average, students attending charter schools have eight additional days of learning in reading and the same days of learning in math per year compared to their peers in traditional public schools." Charter schools also have varying impacts on different demographic groups. Black students in charters get an extra 7 days of learning in reading. For low-income charter school students the advantage is 14 days of extra learning in reading and 22 days in math. English Language Learner students in charter schools see a 43-day learning advantage over traditional public school students in reading and an extra 36 days advantage in math. Charter schools showed a significantly greater variation in quality between states and within states. For example, Arizona charter school students had a 29-day disadvantage in math compared to public school students but charter school students in D.C. had a 105-day advantage over their peers in public schools. While the obvious solution to the widely varying quality of charter schools would be to close those that perform below the level of public schools, this is hard to accomplish in practice as even a poor school has its supporters.


Criticism and debate

Stanford economist
Caroline Hoxby Caroline Minter Hoxby (born 1966) is an American economist whose research focuses on issues in education and public economics. She is currently the Scott and Donya Bommer Professor in Economics at Stanford University and program director of the E ...
criticized the study, resulting in a written debate with the authors. She originally argued the study "contains a serious statistical mistake that causes a negative bias in its estimate of how charter schools affect achievement," but after CREDO countered the remarks, saying Hoxby's "memo is riddled with serious errors" Hoxby revised her original criticism. The debate ended with a written "Finale" by CREDO that aimed to rebut both Hoxby's original and revised criticism. The National Education Policy Center has criticized the methods that CREDO has used in its studies. They criticized the CREDO studies for "over-interpreting small effect sizes; failing to justify the statistical assumptions underlying the group comparisons made; not taking into account or acknowledging the large body of charter school research beyond CREDO's own work; ignoring the limitations inherent in the research approach they have taken, or at least failing to clearly communicate limitations to readers."


National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...
study

In 2004, the National Bureau of Economic Research found data that suggested charter schools increase competition in a given jurisdiction, thus improving the quality of traditional public schools (noncharters) in the area. Using end-of-year test scores for grades three through eight from North Carolina's state testing program, researchers found that charter school competition raised the composite test scores in district schools, even though the students leaving district schools for the charters tended to have above average test scores. The introduction of charter schools in the state caused an approximate one percent increase in the score, which constitutes about one quarter of the average yearly growth. The gain was roughly two to five times greater than the gain from decreasing the student-faculty ratio by 1. This research could partially explain how other studies have found a small significant difference in comparing educational outcomes between charter and traditional public schools. It may be that in some cases, charter schools actually improve other public schools by raising educational standards in the area.


American Federation of Teachers study

A report by the American Federation of Teachers, a teachers' union, stated that students attending charter schools tied to school boards do not fare any better or worse statistically in reading and math scores than students attending public schools. This report was based on a study conducted as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2003. The study included a sample of 6000
4th grade Fourth grade (also called grade four, equivalent to Year 5 in England and Wales, and Year 4 in Australia) is a year of Elementary education in some countries. In North America, the fourth grade is the fifth school year of elementary school. Stud ...
pupils and was the first national comparison of test scores among children in charter schools and regular public schools.
Rod Paige Roderick Raynor Paige (born June 17, 1933) served as the 7th United States Secretary of Education from 2001 to 2005. Paige, who grew up in Mississippi, moved from college football coach and classroom teacher to college dean and school superinten ...
, the U.S.
Secretary of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
from 2001 to 2005, issued a statement saying (among other things) that, "according to the authors of the data the Times cites, differences between charter and regular public schools in achievement test scores vanish when examined by race or ethnicity." Additionally, a number of prominent research experts called into question the usefulness of the findings and the interpretation of the data in an advertisement funded by a pro-charter group. Harvard economist
Caroline Hoxby Caroline Minter Hoxby (born 1966) is an American economist whose research focuses on issues in education and public economics. She is currently the Scott and Donya Bommer Professor in Economics at Stanford University and program director of the E ...
also criticized the report and the sample data, saying "An analysis of charter schools that is statistically meaningful requires larger numbers of students."


Caroline Hoxby studies

A 2000 paper by Caroline Hoxby found that charter school students do better than public school students, although this advantage was found only "among white non-Hispanics, males, and students who have a parent with at least a high school diploma". Hoxby released a follow up paper in 2004 with
Jonah Rockoff Jonah E. Rockoff is an American education economist and currently works as Professor of Finance and Economics at the Columbia Graduate School of Business. Rockoff's research interests include the economics of education and public finance. His res ...
, assistant professor of economics and finance at the
Columbia Graduate School of Business Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one of the oldest busi ...
, claiming to have again found that charter school students do better than public school students. This second study compared charter school students "to the schools that their students would most likely otherwise attend: the nearest regular public school with a similar racial composition." It reported that the students in charter schools performed better in both math and reading. It also reported that the longer the charter school had been in operation, the more favorably its students compared.


Criticism

The paper was the subject of controversy in 2005 when
Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...
assistant professor
Jesse Rothstein Jesse Rothstein is an economist, and currently Professor of Public Policy & Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, he was Chief Economist at the US Department of Labor. He is the founding director of the California Policy La ...
was unable to replicate her results. Hoxby's methodology in this study has also been criticized by
Lawrence Mishel Lawrence Mishel is distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., a pro-labor think-tank that seeks to advance the interests of American workers. He has been at EPI since 1987, first serving as Research Director, then a ...
, who argued that Hoxby's "assessment of school outcomes is based on the share of students who are proficient at reading or math but not the average test score of the students. That's like knowing the poverty rate but not the average income of a community—useful but incomplete." How representative the study is has also been criticized, as the study is only of students in Chicago.Renzulli, Linda A., & Roscigno, Vincent J., ''Charter Schools and the Public Good'', in ''Contexts'', 6(1):31–36 (Winter 2007 , accessed January 3, 2008 (author Linda A. Renzulli asst. prof. Dep't Sociology,
University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...
, & coauthor Vincent J. Roscigno coeditor
American Sociological Review The ''American Sociological Review'' is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology. It is published by SAGE Publications on behalf of the American Sociological Association. It was established in 1936. The editors- ...
).


Learning gains studies

A common approach in education evaluation research is to compare the learning gains of individual students in charter schools to their gains when they were in traditional public schools. Thus, in effect, each student acts as his/her own control to assess the impact of charter schools. A few selected examples of this work find that charter schools on average outperform the traditional public schools that supplied students, at least after the charter school had been in operation for a few years. A possible limitation of this type of study is that it does not automatically distinguish between possible benefits of how the school operates (e.g. school structure) and possible peer effects, that is, effects of students on each other. At the same time, there appears to be a wide variation in the effectiveness of individual charter schools.


Meta-analyses

A report issued by the
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is a non-profit trade association serving the charter school industry. NAPCS advocates for all charter schools including those that contract with charter management organizations and education manag ...
, released in July 2005 and updated in October 2006, looked at twenty-six studies that make some attempt to look at change over time in charter school student or school performance. Twelve of these find that overall gains in charter schools were larger than other public schools; four find charter schools' gains higher in certain significant categories of schools, such as elementary schools, high schools, or schools serving at risk students; six find comparable gains in charter and traditional public schools; and, four find that charter schools' overall gains lagged behind. The study also looks at whether individual charter schools improve their performance with age (e.g. after overcoming start-up challenges). Of these, five of seven studies find that as charter schools mature, they improve. The other two find no significant differences between older and younger charter schools. A more recent synthesis of findings conducted by
Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
indicates that solid conclusions cannot be drawn from the existing studies, due to their methodological shortcomings and conflicting results, and proposes standards for future meta-analyses.


National Center for Education Statistics study

A study released on August 22, 2006, by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that students in charter schools performed several points worse than students in traditional public schools in both reading and math on the
National Assessment of Educational Progress The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what U.S. students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the ...
test. Some proponents consider this the best study as they believe by incorporating basic demographic, regional, or school characteristics simultaneously it "...  has shown conclusively, through rigorous, replicated, and representative research, whether charter schools boost student achievement ...", while they say that in the AFT study "...  estimates of differences between charter schools and traditional public schools are overstated." The
Center for Education Reform The Center for Education Reform is an education reform organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1993, CER advocates for school choice. Legislation The Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act (H.R. 10; 113th ...
argued that its demographic controls were highly unreliable, as the percentage of students receiving free lunches does not correlate well to poverty levels, and some charter schools do not offer free lunches at all, skewing their apparent demographics towards higher income levels than actually occur.


United States Department of Education study

In its Evaluation of the Public Charter Schools Program: Final Report released in 2003, the U.S. Department of Education found that, in the five case study states, charter schools were out-performed by traditional public schools in meeting state performance standards, but noted: "It is impossible to know from this study whether that is because of the performance of the schools, the prior achievement of the students, or some other factor."


Texas study

According to a 2020 study of charter schools in Texas, charter schools had no impact on test scores and adversely affected early-life labor market outcomes.


2022 AEJ study

A 2022 study in the
American Economic Journal The ''American Economic Journal'' is a group of four peer-reviewed academic journals published by the American Economic Association. The names of the individual journals consist of the prefix ''American Economic Journal'' with a descriptor of the f ...
found that charter school openings caused a reduction in public school enrollment, in particular white enrollment. The charter school openings had no impact on student achievement.


Local evaluations of charter schools


Boston

A study in the
Boston Public Schools Boston Public Schools (BPS) is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest public school district in the state of Massachusetts. Leadership The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the ...
(BPS) District compared Boston's charter schools to their district school peers as well as Boston's pilot schools, which are public schools that have been granted the flexibility to determine their own budgets, staffing, curricula, and scheduling but remain part of the local school district and subject to collectively bargained pay scales and seniority protections. The report performed analyses using both statistical controls and using pilot and charter applicant lotteries. The results using statistical controls to control for demographic and baseline state test scores found a positive effect among charter schools similar to a year spent in one of Boston's selective exam schools, with math scores, for instance, showing positive effects of 0.18 and 0.22 standard deviations for charter middle and high schools respectively compared to an effect of 0.20 and 0.16 standard deviations for exam schools. For pilot schools, the report found that in the middle school grades pilot school students modestly underperform relative to similar students attending traditional BPS schools (-0.05 standard deviations in ELA and -0.07 in math) while showing slightly positive results in the high school grades for pilot schools (0.15 standard deviations for writing and 0.06 for math). The results using a sub-sample of schools with random lottery results found very large positive effects in both math and ELA scores for charter schools, including 0.16 and 0.19 standard deviations in middle and high school ELA scores respectively and 0.36 and 0.17 standard deviations in middle and high school math scores respectively. Boston's pilot schools, however, showed a concerning negative effect in middle school math and ELA and a slightly positive effect in high school.


Los Angeles

CREDO evaluated the impact of charter schools in Los Angeles from 2008 to 2012. The study found that over 48% of Los Angeles charters outperform local public schools in reading and 44% percent of Los Angeles charters outperform local public schools in math. The study concludes they believe not every charter will outperform traditional public schools, but that conditions are well suited for growth. An evaluation of Los Angeles charter schools from 2002 to 2008, published in the ''
American Journal of Education ''The American Journal of Education'' seeks to bridge and integrate the intellectual, methodological, and substantive diversity of educational scholarship and to encourage a vigorous dialogue between educational scholars and policy makers. It publ ...
'', contends that a rapidly diversifying group of schools in the period did not improve charter school student's performance relative to their public school peers.


New Orleans

A 2010 case study by the
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
examined the charter school reform efforts in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
. Following
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
, the district became composed of 70
Recovery School District Recovery School District (RSD) is a special statewide school district administered by the Louisiana Department of Education. Created by legislation passed in 2003, the RSD is designed to take underperforming schools and transform and make them effe ...
(RSD) schools managed by the state (including 37 RSD charter schools) and 16 schools managed by the local
Orleans Parish School Board The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) governs the public school system that serves New Orleans, Louisiana. It includes the entirety of Orleans Parish, coterminous with New Orleans. The OPSB directly administers 6 schools and has granted charte ...
(OPSB) (including 12 OPSB charter schools). Charter schools now account for more than 60% of the public schools in New Orleans. RSD Schools were a result of Act 9 of the Louisiana State Legislature passed in 2003 to manage under-performing schools throughout the state. When evaluating New Orleans' schools against the 200-point index called the State Performance Index (SPI),19 of the 20 highest-performing non-selective schools were charter schools. Charter schools affiliated with charter management organizations such as
KIPP The Knowledge is Power Program, commonly known as KIPP, is a network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory schools in low income communities throughout the United States. KIPP is America's largest network of charter schools. The head of ...
tended to perform better than stand-alone schools. The overall percentage of schools performing below the failing mark of 60 fell from 64% in 2005 to 36% in 2009. A 2015 study contends that although charter schools may seem to be improving the system overall, these metrics do not take into account race, as many of the underperforming charters primarily educate African-American students. It offers significant concern that current metrics for evaluation are ignoring significant portions of the population and that the media is not taking this into account when considering the impact of charter schools on New Orleans.


Policy and practice

As more states start charter schools, there is increasing speculation about upcoming legislation. In an innovation-diffusion study surveying education policy experts in fifty states, Michael Mintrom and Sandra Vergari (1997) found that charter legislation is more likely to be considered in states with poor test scores, Republican legislative control, and proximity to other states with high quality charter schools. Legislative enthusiasm, gubernatorial support, interactions with national authorities, and use of permissive charter-law models increase the chances for adopting what they consider stronger laws. He feels union support and restrictive models lead to adoption of what he considers weaker laws. Other barriers to charter expansion include restrictions on the number of charters permissible in a state, lack of state and local funding for facilities and transportation, and a political and philanthropic focus on expanding charters in urban areas rather than in suburban or rural areas. The threat of vouchers, wavering support for public education, and bipartisan support for charters has led some unions to start charters themselves. Several
AFT "Aft", in nautical terminology, is an adjective or adverb meaning towards the stern (rear) of the ship, aircraft or spacecraft, when the frame of reference is within the ship, headed at the fore. For example, "Able Seaman Smith; lie aft!" or "Wh ...
chapters, such as those in Houston and Dallas, have themselves started charters. In New York City, the
United Federation of Teachers The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is the labor union that represents most teachers in New York City public schools. , there were about 118,000 in-service teachers and 17,000 paraprofessional educators in the union, as well as about 54,000 ...
operates a charter school serving grades 9–12 in Brooklyn, NY. The
National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college stude ...
has allocated $1.5 million to help members start charter schools. Proponents claim that charters offer teachers a measure of empowerment, employee ownership, and governance that might be enhanced by union assistance (Nathan). Former President George W. Bush's
No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education ...
also promotes charter schools. Over two dozen private management companies are attempting to increase their 10 percent share of a "more hospitable and entrepreneurial market" (Stecklow 1997). In the late 1990s Boston-based Advantage Schools Inc., a corporation specializing in for-profit schooling, contracted to run charter schools in New Jersey, Arizona, and North Carolina. In July 2001, Advantage Schools, Inc. was acquired by Mosaica Education. The Education Development Corporation was planning in the summer of 1997 to manage nine nonsectarian charter schools in
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, using cost-cutting measures employed in
Christian schools A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some count ...
.


Public opinion

Historically, Americans have been evenly split on the idea of charter schools, with a roughly even mix of support versus opposition between 2000 and 2005. There is also widespread sentiment that states should hold charter schools accountable, with 80% thinking so in 2005. However, openness to charter schools has been increasing especially among minority communities who have shifted opinions higher than the national average. A 2011
Phi Delta Kappa PDK International (also known as PDK or Phi Delta Kappa International) is a US professional organization for educators. Its main office is in Arlington, Virginia. It was founded on January 24, 1906. Membership Currently, membership consists o ...
International-
Gallup Poll Gallup, Inc. is an American analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Starting in the 1980s, Gallup transitioned its bu ...
reported that public support for charter schools stood at a "decade-high" of 70%. Charter schools provide an alternative for educators, families, and communities who are dissatisfied with educational quality and school district bureaucracies at noncharter schools. In early 2008, the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, a pro-charter organization, conducted two polls in primarily conservative states Idaho and Nevada where they asked parents about their preferences concerning education. In Idaho, only 12% of respondents said that their regular public school was their top choice for the children's school. Most preferred private schools over other options. In 2008, polls conducted in the conservative states Georgia and Wyoming found similar results. The charter approach uses market principles from the private sector, including accountability and
consumer choice The theory of consumer choice is the branch of microeconomics that relates preferences to consumption expenditures and to consumer demand curves. It analyzes how consumers maximize the desirability of their consumption as measured by their pref ...
, to offer new public sector options that remain
nonsectarian Nonsectarian institutions are secular institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group. Academic sphere Examples of US universities that identify themselves as being nonsectarian include Adelp ...
and non-exclusive. Many people, such as former president
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, see charter schools, with their emphasis on autonomy and accountability, as a workable political compromise and an alternative to vouchers. Others, such as former president
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
, see charter schools as a way to improve schools without antagonizing the
teachers' union The following is an alphabetical list of education trade unions: __NOTOC__ A * NEA-Alaska * Alliance of Concerned Teachers (Philippines) * Alabama Education Association State Affiliate of the National Education Association. * American Association ...
. Bush made charter schools a major part of his
No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education ...
. Despite these endorsements, a recent report by the
AFT "Aft", in nautical terminology, is an adjective or adverb meaning towards the stern (rear) of the ship, aircraft or spacecraft, when the frame of reference is within the ship, headed at the fore. For example, "Able Seaman Smith; lie aft!" or "Wh ...
has shown charter schools not faring as well as public schools on state administered standardized testing, though the report has been heavily criticized by conservatives like
William G. Howell William G. Howell (born September 18, 1971) is an American political scientist and author. He is the Sydney Stein Professor in American Politics at Harris School of Public Policy Studies, Chicago Harris and a professor in the Department of Politic ...
of the
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...
. Other charter school opponents have examined the competing claims and suggest that most students in charter schools perform the same or worse than their traditional public school counterparts on standardized tests. Both charter school proponents and critics admit that individual schools of public choice have the potential to develop into successful or unsuccessful models. In a May 2009 policy report issued by Education Sector, "Food for Thought: Building a High-Quality School Choice Market", author Erin Dillon argues that market forces alone will not provide the necessary supply and demand for excellent public schools, especially in low-income, urban neighborhoods that often witness low student achievement. According to Dillon, "In order to pressure all public schools to improve and to raise student achievement overall, school choice reforms need to not just increase the supply of any schools. They need to increase the supply of good schools, and parents who know how to find them." Drawing lessons from successful food and banking enterprises located in poor, inner-city neighborhoods, the report recommends that policymakers enhance the charter school market by providing more information to consumers, forging community partnerships, allowing for more flexible school financing, and mapping the quality of the education market.


Parent considerations

The growth in the amount and popularity of charter schools has prompted more parents to consider sending their children to charter schools over public schools. According to Shannon Altenhofen, this changes the question from "‘public versus charter school?’ to ‘which charter school?’”.


Implications of school choice

The concept of
school choice School choice is a term for education options that allow students and families to select alternatives to public schools. The most common in the United States, by both the number of programs and by the number of participating students are scho ...
views parents as “consumers” with the responsibility of choosing the best possible school for their child. There “is little evidence that parents of different races and social classes value fundamentally different qualities in schools,” but there is evidence that “socioeconomic status, social capital, and education level” can limit the parental choice of schools. Most parents, regardless of class status, rely on their social network for choosing schools. Higher-income parents “have a greater array of social resources and connections to trust when choosing a school, and making the choice seem almost effortless.” Upper-income parents might have more access to information which guides their choice of charter schools. One survey study of 553 upper-income mostly White parents in Colorado's charter schools noted the importance of social networking in their decision to choose charter schools. Of those surveyed “95% of parents reported that they relied on talks with other family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and/or parents.” This study highlighted that upper-income white parents tend to rely greatly on the information given by those in their social networks, but the parents also did their research on “school quality, curriculum, instruction, and other factors to see whether the school is a good fit for their child. Low income and minority parents, on the other hand, struggle “when it comes to the amount and type of information they can access.” “The many challenges that low-income families face both shape and limit their views of the costs and benefits of various school choice options.” A qualitative study conducted in New York City interviewed parents from two similar performing charter schools, one which was “racially and ethnically diverse” and another which was more “racially and ethnically homogeneous,” to get an “insight” on parent rationale for choosing that particular charter school. Parents from the homogeneously, Black and Latino, low-income charter school tended to choose their charter school primarily as a desperate escape from the “negative experiences” they had faced at traditional public schools. Many of the parents in this charter school heard about the charter school by simply seeing it in their community or by hearing about it from people in their social network. So in this study, the parents used their social network but did not conduct extensive research so what they knew was more limited. Parents from the more economically and racially diverse school chose the charter school because of the school's unique qualities which they felt would benefit their child. Parents from this school also heard about it in their social networks, but that particular charter school did more outreach through advertisements. In the diverse charter school, White and Asian parents were more likely to transfer out if they were dissatisfied with the charter school as compared to the other ethnic groups.


Optimizing selection

One experimental research study asked 14,989 parents from Denver to rank their top schools; the researchers then focused on the top first school and surveyed the parents by asking them which “resource,” out of all the provided resources, had aided them the most in their decision of ranking their first choice school. The researchers then analyzed the quality of the top school chosen based on the
Denver Public Schools The Denver County School District No. 1, more commonly known as the Denver Public Schools (DPS), is the public school system in the City and County of Denver, Colorado, United States. History In 1859, Owen J. Goldrick established the Union Scho ...
School Performance Framework (SPF) with the noted resource. Parents who chose higher-rated schools were more likely to have listed two particular sources of school information. One was the “school choice enrollment guide” and the other resource was “parent websites.” The school choice enrollment guide provided parents with a list of “each school’s SPF rating.” These valuable resources were able to help low-income minority parents choose schools with higher ratings.


Debate over funding

Nearly all charter schools face implementation obstacles, but newly created schools are most vulnerable. Some charter advocates claim that new charters tend to be plagued by resource limitations, particularly inadequate startup funds. Yet,, a few charter schools also attract large amounts of interest and money from private sources such as the
Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...
, the
Walton Family Foundation The Walton family is an American family whose collective fortune derived from Walmart makes them the richest family in the United States of America. Overview The three most prominent living members (Jim, Rob, and Alice Walton) have consiste ...
, the Broad Foundation, and the NewSchools Venture Fund. Sometimes private businesses and foundations, such as
Ameritech AT&T Teleholdings, Inc., formerly known as Ameritech Corporation (and before that American Information Technologies Corporation), is an American telecommunications company that arose out of the 1984 AT&T divestiture. Ameritech was one of the se ...
and the Annenberg Fund,provide support. Although charter advocates recommend the schools control all per-pupil funds, charter advocates claim that their schools rarely receive as much funding as other public schools. Charter schools in California were guaranteed a set amount of district funding that in some districts amounted to $800 per student per year more than traditional public schools received until a new law was passed that took effect in fall 2006. Charter advocates claim that their schools generally lack access to funding for facilities and special program funds distributed on a district basis. Congress and the president allocated $80 million to support charter-school activities in fiscal year 1998, up from $51 million in 1997. Despite the possibility of additional private and non-district funding, a government study showed that charter school may still lag behind traditional public school achievement. Although charter schools may receive less public funding than traditional public schools, a portion of charter schools' operating costs can come from sources outside public funding (such as private funding in the form of donations). A study funded by the
American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 perc ...
found that in DC charter schools, private funding accounted for $780 per pupil on average and, combined with a higher level of public funding in some charters (mostly due to non-district funding), resulted in considerably higher funding when compared to comparable public schools. Without federal funding, private funding, and "other income", D.C. charter schools received slightly more on average ($8,725 versus $8,676 per pupil), but that funding was more concentrated in the better funded charter schools (as seen by the
median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...
DC charter school funding of $7,940 per pupil). With federal, private, and "other income", charter school funding shot up to an average of $11,644 versus the district $10,384 per pupil. The median here showed an even more unequal distribution of the funds with a median of $10,333. Other research, using different funding data for DC schools and including funding for school facilities, finds conflicting results. According to a recent study published in December 2011 by the Center for Education Reform, the national percentage of charter closures were as follows: 42% of charter schools close as a direct result of financial issues, whereas only 19% of charter schools closed due to academic problems. Congress and the president allocated $80 million to support charter-school activities in fiscal year 1998, up from $51 million in 1997. Despite the possibility of additional private and non-district funding, a government study showed that charter school may still lag behind traditional public school achievement.


Co-location

Co-location or collocation of charter schools in public noncharter school buildings has been practiced in both
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
and is controversial. Since students planning to attend charter schools are generally students who would have attended noncharter schools, co-location permits reassigning seating for the same students from one kind of school to the other in the same building, so that, while space might have to be rebuilt, entire schools do not have to be built from the ground up. The cost savings let more charter schools open. Co-location also permits the two kinds of schools to be visible to each other, thereby promoting school reform, especially within families whose children attend both schools in the same building. It may also mean that a government administration responsible for overseeing noncharter public schools loses political turf as it gives up space to independently run charter schools.


Criticism


Difficulties with accountability

The basic concept of charter schools is that they exercise increased autonomy in return for greater accountability. They are meant to be held accountable for both academic results and fiscal practices to several groups, including the sponsor that grants them, the parents who choose them, and the public that funds them. Charter schools can theoretically be closed for failing to meet the terms set forth in their charter, but in practice, this can be difficult, divisive, and controversial. One example was the 2003 revocation of the charter for Urban Pioneer in the
San Francisco Unified School District San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), established in 1851, is the only public school district within the City and County of San Francisco, and the first in the state of California. Under the management of the San Francisco Board of Educa ...
, which first came under scrutiny when two students died on a school wilderness outing. An auditor's report found that the school was in financial disarray and posted the lowest test scores of any school in the district except those serving entirely non-English-speakers. It was also accused of academic fraud, graduating students with far fewer than the required credits. There is also the case of
California Charter Academy The California Charter Academy (CCA) was formerly the largest charter school operator in California, with multiple campuses located throughout the state. CCA opened under the leadership of Mr. C Steven Cox, a former insurance executive. During th ...
, where a publicly funded but privately run chain of 60 charter schools became insolvent in August 2004, despite a budget of $100 million, which left thousands of children without a school to attend. In March 2009, the Center for Education Reform released its latest data on charter school closures. At that time they found that 657 of the more than 5250 charter schools that have ever opened had closed, for reasons ranging from district consolidation to failure to attract students. The study found that "41 percent of the nation's charter closures resulted from financial deficiencies caused by either low student enrollment or inequitable funding," while 14% had closed due to poor academic performance. The report also found that the absence of achievement data "correlates directly with the weakness of a state's charter school law. For example, states like Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia and Wyoming have laws ranked either "D" or "F". Progress among these schools has not been tracked objectively or clearly." A 2005 paper found that in Connecticut, which it characterized as having been highly selective in approving charter applications, a relatively large proportion of poorly performing charter schools have closed. Under Connecticut's relatively weak charter law, only 21 charter schools have opened in all, and of those, five have closed. Of those, 3 closed for financial reasons. Charter school students in Connecticut are funded on average $4,278 less than regular public school students. However the authors of the 2005 study more centrally find that "lobbies and special interest groups that advocate for charter schools, such as the Center for Education Reform, have been effective in conveying a message that strong charter school laws are those that (i) grant the most autonomy to charter schools and (ii) result in large numbers of charter schools. Contrary to these assumptions, we have seen from our research and state evaluations that permissive laws and states with large numbers of charter schools are often less likely to have positive outcomes". In a September 2007 public policy report, Andrew Rotherham and Sara Mead of Education Sector offered a series of recommendations to improve charter school quality through increased accountability. Some of their recommendations urged policymakers to: (i) provide more public oversight of charter school authorizers, including the removal of poor-quality authorizers, (ii) improve the quality of student performance data with more longitudinal student-linked data and multiple measures of school performance, and (iii) clarify state laws related to charter school closure, especially the treatment of displaced students. All but 17% of charter school students show no improvement when compared to a heuristically modeled virtual twin traditional public school. Educational gains from switching to charter schools from public schools have on average been shown to be "small or insignificant" (Zimmer, et al.) and tend to decline over a span of time (Byrnes). Charter schools provided no substantial improvement in students' educational outcomes that could not be accounted for in a public school setting (Gleason, Clark and Clark Tuttle). Attrition rates for teachers in charter schools have shown annual rates as high as 40%. Students also tend to move from charter schools prior to graduation more often than do students in public schools (Finch, Lapsley and Baker-Boudissa). Charter schools are often regarded as an outgrowth of the Powell Manifesto advocating corporate domination of the American democratic process and are considered to represent vested interests' attempts to mold public opinion via public school education and to claim a share of this $500–600 billion-dollar industry.


Scalability

Whether the charter school model can be scaled up to the size of a public noncharter school system has been questioned, when teaching demands more from teachers and many noncharter teachers are apparently unable to teach in the way charters seek, as has been suggested by
Arne Duncan Arne Starkey Duncan (born November 6, 1964) is an American educator who served as United States Secretary of Education from 2009 to 2015 and as Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2008. A lifelong resident of Chicago, Du ...
,
U.S. Secretary of Education The United States secretary of education is the head of the United States Department of Education, U.S. Department of Education. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, and the federal government, on ...
,
Diane Ravitch Diane Silvers Ravitch (born July 1, 1938) is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and a research professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Previously, she was a U.S. A ...
, education historian and former assistant U.S. education secretary,
Mark Roosevelt Mark Roosevelt (born December 10, 1955) is an American academic administrator and politician serving as the seventh president of the Santa Fe campus of St. John's College. He was the President of Antioch College from January 2011 to December 2 ...
, former schools chief for Pittsburgh, Penn., U.S., and Dave Levin, of the KIPP charters However, some, such as
Eva Moskowitz Eva Sarah Moskowitz (born March 4, 1964) is an American politician and education reform leader, who is the founder and CEO of the Success Academy Charter Schools. A member of the Democratic Party, Moskowitz served on the New York City Council ...
of
Success Academy Charter Schools Success Academy Charter Schools, originally Harlem Success Academy, is a charter school operator in New York City. Eva Moskowitz, a former city council member for the Upper East Side, is its founder and CEO. It has 47 schools in the New York ar ...
, believe that the model can be scaled up.


Exploitation by for-profit entities

Critics have accused for-profit entities, (
education management organization An education management organization (EMO) is a term of art describing a for-profit entity that manages schools. It provides a distinction from charter management organization which is a ''non-profit'' manager of charter schools. The terms are oft ...
s, EMOs) and private foundations such as the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...
, the
Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Eli Broad ( ; June 6, 1933April 30, 2021) was an American businessman and philanthropist. In June 2019, ''Forbes'' ranked him as the 233rd-wealthiest person in the world and the 78th-wealthiest in the United States, with an estimated net worth of ...
, and the
Walton Family The Walton family is an American family whose collective fortune derived from Walmart makes them the richest family in the United States of America. Overview The three most prominent living members (Jim, Rob, and Alice Walton) have consist ...
Foundation of funding Charter school initiatives to undermine public education and turn education into a "business model" which can make a profit. According to activist
Jonathan Kozol Jonathan Kozol (born September 5, 1936) is an American writer, progressive activist, and educator, best known for his books on public education in the United States. Education and experience Born to Harry Kozol and Ruth (Massell) Kozol, Jonat ...
, education is seen as one of the biggest market opportunities in America or "the big enchilada".


Shift from progressive to conservative movement

Charters were originally a
progressive movement Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techno ...
(called the "small schools" movement) started by University of Massachusetts professor Ray Budde and
American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 perc ...
leader
Al Shanker Albert Shanker (September 14, 1928 – February 22, 1997) was president of the United Federation of Teachers from 1964 to 1985 and president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) from 1974 to 1997. Early life Shanker was born on Manhatta ...
to explore best practices for education without bureaucracy. However, some critics argue that the charter movement has shifted into an effort to privatize education and attack teachers' unions. For example, education historian
Diane Ravitch Diane Silvers Ravitch (born July 1, 1938) is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and a research professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Previously, she was a U.S. A ...
has estimated, as a "safe guess," that 95% of charters in the United States are non-union and has said that charters follow an unsustainable practice of requiring teachers to work unusually long hours.


Better student test scores / Teacher issues

According to a study done by
Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
, teachers in charter schools are 1.32 times more likely to leave teaching than a district-run public school teacher. Another 2004 study done by the
Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
found that charter schools "are less likely than traditional public schools to employ teachers meeting state certification standards." A national evaluation by
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
found that "students attending charter schools have eight additional days of learning in reading and the same days of learning in math per year compared to their peers in traditional public schools".


Admissions lottery

Because demand often exceeds the supply of available seats in charter schools, lotteries are held to determine which students will be admitted. When admission depends on a random lottery, some hopeful applicants may be disappointed. A film about the admission lottery at the
Success Academy Charter Schools Success Academy Charter Schools, originally Harlem Success Academy, is a charter school operator in New York City. Eva Moskowitz, a former city council member for the Upper East Side, is its founder and CEO. It has 47 schools in the New York ar ...
(then known as Harlem Success Academy) has been shown as ''
The Lottery ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''. It was inspired by a 2008 lottery. The 2010 documentary ''
Waiting for "Superman" ''Waiting for "Superman"'' is a 2010 American documentary film written and directed by Davis Guggenheim and produced by Lesley Chilcott. The film criticizes the American public education system by following several students as they strive to be ...
'' also examines this issue. A lottery, however, ensures those in wealthier districts do not have a better chance of being accepted.


Collective bargaining

Concern has also been raised about the exemption of charter school teachers from states'
collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...
laws, especially because "charter school teachers are even more likely than traditional public school teachers to be beset by the burn-out caused by working long hours, in poor facilities." , "an increasing number of teachers at charter schools" were attempting to restore collective bargaining rights. Steven Brill, in his book, ''Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools'' (2011), changed his position on charter schools and unions. He said that after two years of researching school reform, he understood the complexities. He reversed his view of union leader
Randi Weingarten Randi Weingarten (born December 18, 1957)''Who's Who in America'', 2007. is an American labor leader, attorney, and educator. She is president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and a member of the AFL–CIO. She is the former presiden ...
and suggested she run the school system for a city.


Racial segregation

One study states that charter schools increase racial segregation. A UCLA report points out that most charter schools are located in African-American neighborhoods. However, a recent statistical analysis of racial segregation and performance outcomes in U.S. charter schools notes that studies on race and charter schools often incorrectly confound the inter-dependent variables of race and family income (poverty).Whitehurst, GJR, Reeves, RV and Rodriquez E (2016). "Segregation and Charter Schools: What Do We Know?" Report of Center on Children and Families, Brookings Institution https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ccf_20161021segregation_version-10_211.pdf Moreover, the authors conclude: "charter schools with a strong academic focus and "no-excuses" philosophy that serve poor black students in urban areas stand as contradictions to the general association between school-level poverty and academic achievement. These very high-poverty, high-minority schools produce achievement gains that are substantially greater than the traditional public schools in the same catchment areas."Whitehurst et al., 2016, op cit. This study concludes that "charter schools are also, on average, more racially segregated than traditional public schools," and state "reducing school segregation and improving the quality of schools serving minority students are both important goals, but they are not the same".


Selective admission

Although charter schools are typically not allowed to engage in selective admissions tests and are required to use random selection, some charter schools are allowed to interview students or parents, evaluate student records or require an admissions test. This is similar to other selective admission public schools such as
Magnet Schools In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...
, career and professional academies, or IB programs.


See also

*
Education in the United States Education in the United States is provided in public and private schools and by individuals through homeschooling. State governments set overall educational standards, often mandate standardized tests for K–12 public school systems and sup ...
* Federal Charter school program *
Charter School Growth Fund The Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) is a Broomfield, Colorado-based nonprofit philanthropic venture capital fund that identifies the country's best public charter schools, funds their expansion, and helps to increase their impact. CSGF is drive ...
* '' Waiting for Superman'' * ''
The Lottery ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''


References


Bibliography

* * *


Further reading


9 Billionaires Are About to Remake New York’s Public Schools – Here’s Their Story
(March 2015). "A ''
Nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...
'' investigation reveals how a group of hedge funders are about to get exactly what they paid for."
Charter schools making big profits for private companies
(Aug. 2014), '' WTSP Television''
Study of charter school effectiveness
(Oct. 2013), ''
The Boston Foundation The Boston Foundation, founded in 1915, is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the nation.https://www.tbf.org/-/media/tbf/files/financial-information/financial-statements/tbf-fy2018-audited-financial-statements.pdf?la=en&hash=FB ...
'' * Buckley, Jack and Schneider, Mark. ''Charter Schools: Hope or Hype?'' (Princeton, PUP, 2007). * * * * * Perez, Shivaun
"Assessing Service Learning Using Pragmatic Principles of Education: A Texas Charter School Case Study"
(2000). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University. Paper 76. * Silverman, Robert Mark. 2012. "The Nonprofitization of Public Education: Implications of Requiring Charter Schools to be Nonprofits in New York." Nonprofit Policy Forum 3(1). * Silverman, Robert Mark. 2013. "Making Waves or Treading Water?: An Analysis of Charter Schools in New York State." Urban Education, 48(2): 257–88. * * * * The original Wikipedia article listed here is based on the text at this public domain site. *


External links


The Birth and Life of Charter Schools


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100210162730/http://www.educationsector.org/research/research_show.htm?doc_id=918071 Food for Thought: Building a High-Quality School Choice Market
Perspectives on Charter Schools: A Review for Parents. ERIC Digest.


* ttp://www.ericdigests.org/2002-2/public.htm Public Charter Schools and Students with Disabilities. ERIC Digest.
The Importance of Choice (when a charter school means less choice)
*
Mississippi Teacher Corps The Mississippi Teacher Corps (MTC) is a two-year alternate route teaching program that recruits college graduates to teach in critical-need areas of Mississippi. As of May 2017, 569 participants have graduated from the program. Upon completion of ...
Focus Paper o
charter Schools

US Charter Schools – Charter School Weekly News Connection – archive

US Charter Schools – Charter Schools Resource Update – archive


* ttp://www.masscharterschools.org/myths Massachusetts Charter Public School Association – "Myths and realities About Massachusetts Charter Public Schools."* Work Hard. Be Nice. How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America. (2009) by Jay Mathews.
Democracy Now! Roundtable: Do Charter Schools Worsen Inequality of Two-Tiered Education System, or Help Address It?

Charter School Fiscal Reality: Dependent on Donations

Charter School Programs Authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA Title V-B): A Primer
Congressional Research Service The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on a c ...

''The Teachers' Unions' Last Stand''
''The New York Times'', May 23, 2010, p. MM32, accessed June 10, 2010.

''Education Week''.
Charter Schools backgrounder
''Education Week''. {{Authority control Alternative schools in the United States Schools in the United States