Choices and Challenges

Choices and Challenges PDF Author: Priscilla Wohlstetter
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 1612505430
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
As charter schools enter their third decade, research in this key sector remains overwhelmingly contradictory and confused. Many studies are narrowly focused; some do not meet the standards for high-quality academic research. In this definitive work, Wohlstetter and her colleagues isolate and distill the high-quality research on charter schools to identify the contextual and operational factors that influence these schools’ performances. The authors examine the track record of the charter sector in light of the wide range of goals set for these schools in state authorizing legislation—at the classroom level, the level of the school community, and system-wide. In particular, they show how the evolution of the charter movement has shaped research questions and findings. By highlighting what we know about the conditions for success in charter schools, the authors make a significant contribution to current debates in policy and practice, both within the charter sector and in the larger landscape of public education.

Choices and Challenges

Choices and Challenges PDF Author: Priscilla Wohlstetter
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 1612505430
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
As charter schools enter their third decade, research in this key sector remains overwhelmingly contradictory and confused. Many studies are narrowly focused; some do not meet the standards for high-quality academic research. In this definitive work, Wohlstetter and her colleagues isolate and distill the high-quality research on charter schools to identify the contextual and operational factors that influence these schools’ performances. The authors examine the track record of the charter sector in light of the wide range of goals set for these schools in state authorizing legislation—at the classroom level, the level of the school community, and system-wide. In particular, they show how the evolution of the charter movement has shaped research questions and findings. By highlighting what we know about the conditions for success in charter schools, the authors make a significant contribution to current debates in policy and practice, both within the charter sector and in the larger landscape of public education.

Charter School City

Charter School City PDF Author: Douglas N. Harris
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022669478X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the wake of the tragedy and destruction that came with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, public schools in New Orleans became part of an almost unthinkable experiment—eliminating the traditional public education system and completely replacing it with charter schools and school choice. Fifteen years later, the results have been remarkable, and the complex lessons learned should alter the way we think about American education. New Orleans became the first US city ever to adopt a school system based on the principles of markets and economics. When the state took over all of the city’s public schools, it turned them over to non-profit charter school managers accountable under performance-based contracts. Students were no longer obligated to attend a specific school based upon their address, allowing families to act like consumers and choose schools in any neighborhood. The teacher union contract, tenure, and certification rules were eliminated, giving schools autonomy and control to hire and fire as they pleased. In Charter School City, Douglas N. Harris provides an inside look at how and why these reform decisions were made and offers many surprising findings from one of the most extensive and rigorous evaluations of a district school reform ever conducted. Through close examination of the results, Harris finds that this unprecedented experiment was a noteworthy success on almost every measurable student outcome. But, as Harris shows, New Orleans was uniquely situated for these reforms to work well and that this market-based reform still required some specific and active roles for government. Letting free markets rule on their own without government involvement will not generate the kinds of changes their advocates suggest. Combining the evidence from New Orleans with that from other cities, Harris draws out the broader lessons of this unprecedented reform effort. At a time when charter school debates are more based on ideology than data, this book is a powerful, evidence-based, and in-depth look at how we can rethink the roles for governments, markets, and nonprofit organizations in education to ensure that America’s schools fulfill their potential for all students.

Key Issues in Studying Charter Schools and Achievement

Key Issues in Studying Charter Schools and Achievement PDF Author: Washington Univ., Seattle. Center on Reinventing Public Education
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 50

Get Book Here

Book Description
This report from the Charter School Achievement Consensus Panel, a group of nine researchers convened by the National Charter School Research Project, examines the existing research on student achievement in charter schools and details how future research could be improved. The panel reviewed and rated more than 40 evaluations of charter school performance released between 2000 and 2005. Studies evaluating charter schools nationally or across states were found to be "fair" to "poor." Two key findings are that: (1) no one research method or approach is problem-free; and (2) the results of studies focused on one kind of charter school cannot be generalized to all charter schools. The panel offers guidelines for local, regional, and national studies and recommends that the research community consider the pattern of results from multiple studies instead of relying on a single study for definitive results. This White Paper is the first in a series of reports from the consensus panel, all of which will be concerned with assessing and strengthening the evidence about charter school outcomes. Appended are: (1) List of Charter School Studies Included in Literature Review; and (2) Details on the Literature on Charter Schools. (Contains 6 tables and 3 figures.) [Principal drafters of this report were: Julian Betts and Paul T. Hill.].

Understanding and Assessing the Charter School Movement

Understanding and Assessing the Charter School Movement PDF Author: Joseph Murphy
Publisher: Teachers College Press
ISBN: 9780807741986
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Get Book Here

Book Description
Shows how charter schools have changed in the years since their development, looks at their role in educational reform, and provides background information and details for the future of chartering.

Ghosts in the Schoolyard

Ghosts in the Schoolyard PDF Author: Eve L. Ewing
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022652616X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Failing schools. Underprivileged schools. Just plain bad schools.” That’s how Eve L. Ewing opens Ghosts in the Schoolyard: describing Chicago Public Schools from the outside. The way politicians and pundits and parents of kids who attend other schools talk about them, with a mix of pity and contempt. But Ewing knows Chicago Public Schools from the inside: as a student, then a teacher, and now a scholar who studies them. And that perspective has shown her that public schools are not buildings full of failures—they’re an integral part of their neighborhoods, at the heart of their communities, storehouses of history and memory that bring people together. Never was that role more apparent than in 2013 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced an unprecedented wave of school closings. Pitched simultaneously as a solution to a budget problem, a response to declining enrollments, and a chance to purge bad schools that were dragging down the whole system, the plan was met with a roar of protest from parents, students, and teachers. But if these schools were so bad, why did people care so much about keeping them open, to the point that some would even go on a hunger strike? Ewing’s answer begins with a story of systemic racism, inequality, bad faith, and distrust that stretches deep into Chicago history. Rooting her exploration in the historic African American neighborhood of Bronzeville, Ewing reveals that this issue is about much more than just schools. Black communities see the closing of their schools—schools that are certainly less than perfect but that are theirs—as one more in a long line of racist policies. The fight to keep them open is yet another front in the ongoing struggle of black people in America to build successful lives and achieve true self-determination.

The Charter School Experiment

The Charter School Experiment PDF Author: Christopher A. Lubienski
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 1612503942
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Get Book Here

Book Description
When charter schools first arrived on the American educational scene, few observers suspected that within two decades thousands of these schools would be established, serving almost a million and a half children across forty states. The widespread popularity of these schools, and of the charter movement itself, speaks to the unique and chronic desire for substantive change in American education. As an innovation in governance, the ultimate goal of the charter movement is to improve learning opportunities for all students—not only those who attend charter schools but also students in public schools that are affected by competition from charters. In The Charter School Experiment, a select group of leading scholars traces the development of one of the most dynamic and powerful areas of education reform. Contributors with varying perspectives on the charter movement carefully evaluate how well charter schools are fulfilling the goals originally set out for them: introducing competition to the school sector, promoting more equitable access to quality schools, and encouraging innovation to improve educational outcomes. They explore the unintended effects of the charter school experiment over the past two decades, and conclude that charter schools are entering a new phase of their development, beginning to serve purposes significantly different from those originally set out for them.

Where Charter School Policy Fails

Where Charter School Policy Fails PDF Author: Amy Stuart Wells
Publisher: Teachers College Press
ISBN: 0807777552
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this provocative volume, Amy Stuart Wells and her co-authors provide evidence that the laissez-faire policies of charter school reform often exacerbate existing inequalities in our schools. Providing the most comprehensive, critical review of charter schools to date, this timely volume is based on the authors’ in-depth study of 10 urban, suburban, and rural school districts and 17 diverse charter schools in California, plus their analysis of other charter school studies from around the country. Focusing on two central issues—accountability and equity—they explore how charter school policies affect the lives of children, educators, and parents in diverse social, economic, and political contexts. The authors conclude that although the quality and experiences of charter schools is highly varied across different contexts, the laws that allow these schools to exist fail to assure meaningful accountability. Meanwhile, these policies increase inequality and stratification by pushing the educational system toward privatization in terms of finance and admissions while failing to target much-needed resources toward low-income communities. This dynamic book will help educators and policymakers develop a future policy agenda for charter school reform that will be more responsive to the needs of all children. “The authors, for the first time, make sense of the diverse and diffuse charter school ‘movement.’ They argue that the lack of support, the absence of equity provisions in state laws, and the burnout of many charter school personnel have led to the beginning of the end of this—yet another—school reform. This book provides important lessons for all who care about public education.” —Jean Anyon, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Challenges of Starting and Operating Charter Schools

Challenges of Starting and Operating Charter Schools PDF Author: Carolyn Sullins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1998, The Cleveland Foundation developed a strategy to support select Cleveland area charter schools as part of its commitment to local school reform. The Cleveland Foundation provided start-up funding to four charter schools it deemed both promising and viable. In 2000, The Cleveland Foundation contracted with The Evaluation Center to provide technical assistance to these schools and to evaluate the four schools in terms of how they were developed and implemented. The study also examined the impact of these schools on the students they enroll as well as the communities in which they are located. This report focuses on the evaluation components of the project, addressing the following questions: (1) What has been the process of developing and implementing these schools? (2) What factors influenced the effectiveness of their development and implementation? (3) How are the charter schools utilizing the opportunity space they have been provided by the charter school law, and to what extent are they implementing the ideas contained in charter school theory as far as autonomous and site-level governance, professional opportunities for teachers, parental participation, innovative curriculum and instruction, and cohesion around mission? (4) Are charter schools able to promote academic growth in students? (5) Are charter schools accountable to the market? (6) Have the schools fulfilled the expectations of fiscal and regulatory accountability? (7) How do the charter schools affect Cleveland public schools and the district as a whole? (8) How have these charter schools provided an incentive for other public schools to reform? and (9) To what extent are charter schools using evaluation? In addition to addressing these questions, the full technical report also describes the national, state, and local contexts regarding charter schools and draws lessons from these schools that can apply to charter schools and traditional public schools alike. Appended are: (1) Detailed Description of Methods for Collecting and Analyzing Data; (2) Details on the Comparisons Schools in Terms of Location and Demographics; (3) Survey Results Regarding Charter School Missions; (4) List of Each Charter School's Partnerships and Funding Sources; and (5) Supplemental Results Regarding Academic Performance.

The State of Charter Schools

The State of Charter Schools PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Charter schools
Languages : en
Pages : 70

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Charter Movement

The Charter Movement PDF Author: Jeannine L. English
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 078818220X
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 150

Get Book Here

Book Description
The charter school movement is not only an experiment that identifies the best educational methods but also as a tool to achieve change within the educ. systems. California has more than 100 charter schools, and there is tension between their critics and proponents. The authors visited 26 charter schools, including the first, the largest and a mix of urban and rural sites. While the academic results are not clear, charter schools can be judged at least a partial success on the basis of test scores, parental satisfaction, academic innovation, enhanced opportunities for teachers, and increased focus on low-achieving students.