Making Sense of Charter Schools

Making Sense of Charter Schools PDF Author: Ron W. Zimmer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Charter schools
Languages : en
Pages : 12

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Book Description
The debate over charter schools often appears to be driven by theory and ideology, with little information on how the reform itself is affecting students. This occasional paper adds clarity to the debate by consolidating the results from the RAND Corporation2s comprehensive assessment of charter schools. A key feature of this assessment has been the use of individual student-level data to track students from school to school over time and to measure their test scores in traditional and charter schools. The analysis dispels many of the arguments from charter proponents or critics. The results show that test scores for charter school students are keeping pace with comparable students in traditional public schools. Similarly, minority students are performing no better in charter than in traditional classrooms, so charters are not affecting the achievement gap for these students. Charter proponents have also expected that competition from charters would improve the performance of traditional public schools, but the evidence does not support this contention. On a more positive note, charter schools have achieved comparable test score results with fewer public resources and have emphasized non-core subjects more than have traditional schools. In addition, the evidence shows that charter schools have not created 3white enclaves4 or 3skimmed4 high-quality students from traditional public schools, as critics feared. Finally, we discovered that school level operations varied considerably between charter and traditional schools, but these operational differences had little effect on student achievement.

Making Sense of Charter Schools

Making Sense of Charter Schools PDF Author: Ron W. Zimmer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Charter schools
Languages : en
Pages : 12

Get Book Here

Book Description
The debate over charter schools often appears to be driven by theory and ideology, with little information on how the reform itself is affecting students. This occasional paper adds clarity to the debate by consolidating the results from the RAND Corporation2s comprehensive assessment of charter schools. A key feature of this assessment has been the use of individual student-level data to track students from school to school over time and to measure their test scores in traditional and charter schools. The analysis dispels many of the arguments from charter proponents or critics. The results show that test scores for charter school students are keeping pace with comparable students in traditional public schools. Similarly, minority students are performing no better in charter than in traditional classrooms, so charters are not affecting the achievement gap for these students. Charter proponents have also expected that competition from charters would improve the performance of traditional public schools, but the evidence does not support this contention. On a more positive note, charter schools have achieved comparable test score results with fewer public resources and have emphasized non-core subjects more than have traditional schools. In addition, the evidence shows that charter schools have not created 3white enclaves4 or 3skimmed4 high-quality students from traditional public schools, as critics feared. Finally, we discovered that school level operations varied considerably between charter and traditional schools, but these operational differences had little effect on student achievement.

Charter School City

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

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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.

Charter Schools and Their Enemies

Charter Schools and Their Enemies PDF Author: Thomas Sowell
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 9781541675131
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In dozens of places in New York City where a charter school and a traditional public school hold classes in the same building, charter school students in those buildings have achieved "proficiency" on statewide tests several times more often than traditional public school students taking the same tests. In 2013, a fifth-grade class in a Harlem charter school scored higher on a mathematics test than any other fifth-grade class in the entire state of New York. That included, as the New York Times put it, "even their counterparts in the whitest and richest suburbs, Scarsdale and Briarcliff Manor." Nationwide, charter schools have only a fraction of the number of students who attend traditional public schools. But charter schools enrollment is growing faster, especially in low-income minority communities. From 2001 to 2016, enrollment in traditional public schools rose 1 percent, while charter school enrollment rose 571 percent. In cities across the country, with many students on waiting lists to transfer into charter schools, public school officials are blocking charter schools from using school buildings that have been vacant for years, in order to prevent those transfers from taking place. Even in states where blocking charter schools from using vacant school buildings is illegal, the laws have been evaded. In some places, vacant school buildings have been demolished, making sure no charter schools can use them. Book jacket.

Charter School Operations and Performance

Charter School Operations and Performance PDF Author: Ron Zimmer
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833034146
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Analyzes an array of issues pertaining to accessibility, student achievement, governance, and operation of charter schools in California. Four specific research questions were investigated: (1) What population of students attends charter schools? (2) Is student achievement higher in charter schools than in conventional public schools? (3) What oversight and support do the chartering authorities provide? (4) How do charter schools differ from their conventional public school counterparts in terms of their operation, including finances, academic achievement, and staffing?

Taking Measure of Charter Schools

Taking Measure of Charter Schools PDF Author: Julian R. Betts
Publisher: R & L Education
ISBN: 9781607093596
Category : Charter schools
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book breaks new ground on how policymakers and journalists can fairly assess charter school performance. The editors and authors show how good approaches to charter school assessment would also work for regular public schools, which is important because of the requirements of No Child Left Behind.

Making Sense of School Finance

Making Sense of School Finance PDF Author: Clinton Born
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1475856679
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
Making Sense of School Finance: A Practical State-by-State Approach thoroughly and clearly describes complex school finance concepts regarding local, state, and federal revenue along with authentic accounting processes in a straightforward manner for public, nonpublic, and charter school leaders. This logically organized resource delivers content on a specific state basis in succinct, easy-to-follow chapters that uniquely applies to each reader’s actual situation and location. Figures for each state funding model with real allocations, by example, illustrate respective funding model formulas, and the numerous tables in the text differentiate substance by jurisdiction (states and the District of Columbia). Practical subject matter to increase and acquire additional funding in this book that includes private and public grant application writing is vital reading for aspiring and practicing school officials. Above all, this text expands the reader’s comprehension of school finance topics beyond knowledge acquisition into knowhow applications through genuine, end-of-chapter projects and scenarios for discussion with colleagues. Applying the principles from this book remains an absolute necessity to position your school and district for a strong financial future.

Inside the Autonomous School

Inside the Autonomous School PDF Author: Maija Salokangas
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315444062
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Over recent years, education systems across the globe have experimented with the concept of the autonomous school. This takes a variety of forms and the schools involved have different titles, such as charter schools in the USA, academies in England, free schools in Sweden and independent public schools in Australia. As this radical trend in policy gains momentum, Inside the Autonomous School considers whether the model is achieving its desired aims. Drawing on evidence from an in-depth, longitudinal study of an academy located in an urban district in England, this book traces the various developments which took place in the school on its journey from ‘failing’, to achieving an inspection rating of ‘outstanding’. The authors present a rich, first-hand account of the impacts that various policies and practices have had on the autonomous school and at the same time, situate their accounts and analyses within a wider national and international context. This leads them to consider what can be done to ensure that school autonomy consistently promotes excellence and equity within education systems. A fascinating read and invaluable resource for practitioners, researchers and policy makers in the field of education, Inside the Autonomous School sheds much needed light on an increasingly established policy which is set to have far-reaching effects.

School’s Choice

School’s Choice PDF Author: Wagma Mommandi
Publisher: Teachers College Press
ISBN: 0807779806
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Access issues are pivotal to almost all charter school tensions and debates. How well are these schools performing? Are they segregating and stratifying? Are they public and democratic? Are they fairly funded? Can apparent successes be scaled up? Answers to all these core questions hinge on how access to charter schools is shaped. This book describes the incentives and pressures on charter schools to restrict access and examines how charters navigate those pressures, explaining access-restricting practices in relation to the ecosystem within which charter schools are created. It also explains how charters have sometimes responded by resisting the pressures and sometimes by surrendering to them. The text presents analyses of 13 different types of practices around access, each of which shapes the school’s enrollment. The authors conclude by offering recommendations for how states and authorizers can address access-related inequities that arise in the charter sector. School’s Choice provides timely information on critical academic and policy issues that will come into play as charter school policy continues to evolve. Book Features: Examines how charter schools control who gains and retains access.Explores policies and practices that undermine equitable admission and encourage opportunity hoarding.Offers a set of policy recommendations at the state and federal level to address access-related issues.

Making Sense of Phonics

Making Sense of Phonics PDF Author: Isabel L. Beck
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 1462512054
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
This bestselling book provides indispensable tools and strategies for explicit, systematic phonics instruction in K-3. Teachers learn effective ways to build students' decoding skills by teaching letter-sound relationships, blending, word building, multisyllabic decoding, fluency, and more. The volume is packed with engaging classroom activities, many specific examples, and research-based explanations. It offers a complete phonics assessment and clear guidelines for sequencing instruction to give every student a strong foundation for reading. More than 30 reproducible forms and word lists are included in the appendices; the companion website features a wealth of supplemental teaching resources. New to This Edition *Six additional chapters covering key topics, including assessment, phonemic awareness, orthography, and automaticity. *A complete phonics assessment with administering and scoring guidelines. *Companion website with rich supplemental resources, including word/syllable cards, assessment tools, and illustrated stories featuring target words, which teachers can project or print for classroom use. *More classroom examples and "Your Turn" activities, plus expanded word lists. See also Bringing Words to Life, Second Edition: Robust Vocabulary Instruction and Creating Robust Vocabulary: Frequently Asked Questions and Extended Examples, by Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan, which provide essential tools for K-12 vocabulary instruction.

Scripting the Moves

Scripting the Moves PDF Author: Joanne W. Golann
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691200017
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
An inside look at a "no-excuses" charter school that reveals this educational model’s strengths and weaknesses, and how its approach shapes students Silent, single-file lines. Detention for putting a head on a desk. Rules for how to dress, how to applaud, how to complete homework. Walk into some of the most acclaimed urban schools today and you will find similar recipes of behavior, designed to support student achievement. But what do these “scripts” accomplish? Immersing readers inside a “no-excuses” charter school, Scripting the Moves offers a telling window into an expanding model of urban education reform. Through interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and parents, and analysis of documents and data, Joanne Golann reveals that such schools actually dictate too rigid a level of social control for both teachers and their predominantly low-income Black and Latino students. Despite good intentions, scripts constrain the development of important interactional skills and reproduce some of the very inequities they mean to disrupt. Golann presents a fascinating, sometimes painful, account of how no-excuses schools use scripts to regulate students and teachers. She shows why scripts were adopted, what purposes they serve, and where they fall short. What emerges is a complicated story of the benefits of scripts, but also their limitations, in cultivating the tools students need to navigate college and other complex social institutions—tools such as flexibility, initiative, and ease with adults. Contrasting scripts with tools, Golann raises essential questions about what constitutes cultural capital—and how this capital might be effectively taught. Illuminating and accessible, Scripting the Moves delves into the troubling realities behind current education reform and reenvisions what it takes to prepare students for long-term success.