The Reference Desk, using available evidence and research, provides quick-turnaround responses to questions submitted by education stakeholders around the Northeast and Islands Region. Every Friday, REL-NEI highlights one or two questions submitted to its Reference Desk.
How Do Charter Schools Impact Public Education and Student Achievement?
The Reference Desk receives many questions each month about research on school improvement and reform. In the past, this Digest has addressed a variety of school-improvement issues, featuring questions on such topics as dropout prevention, afterschool programs, and online learning for students. This week’s entry examines the impact of charter schools on student achievement and on the public-education system as a whole.
Question
What does the research say about the impact of charter schools on the public-education system and on student achievement?
Research Synopsis
Reference Desk Researchers found an abundance of research on this topic, including literature reviews and evaluations of charter schools that touch on general issues, such as parent satisfaction and the transformative nature of charters schools, as well as reports that look specifically at the quantitative impact of charter schools on student achievement. The introduction to a recent RAND report summarizes the debate on charter schools as follows: “Supporters argue that charter schools can improve student achievement and attainment, serve as laboratories for innovation, provide choice to families that have few options, and promote healthy competition with traditional public schools (TPSs). Critics worry that charter schools perform no better (and, too often, worse) than TPSs, that they may exacerbate stratification by race and ability, and that they harm the students left in TPSs by skimming away financial resources and motivated families” (Zimmer, 2009; see below).
Publicly Available Resources
- Charter Schools in Eight States: Effects on Achievement, Attainment, Integration, and Competition. Zimmer, R., Gill, B., Booker, K., Lavertu, S., Sass, T. R., and Witte, J.; 2009; Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation; 136 pages.
This report “examines four primary research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of students transferring to charter schools? (2) What effect do charter schools have on test-score gains for students who transfer between TPSs and charter schools? (3) What is the effect of attending a charter high school on the probability of graduating and of entering college? (4) What effect does the introduction of charter schools have on test scores of students in nearby TPSs?”
- A Review of the Research on Charter Schools. Bulkley, K., and Fisler, J.; June 2002; Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for Policy Research on Education Web Paper Series; ERIC # ED477868; 36 pages.
From the abstract: “The report covers the following topics: why and how people create a charter school; charter schools’ autonomy compared with public schools’ autonomy; governance and management, school organization, and teaching and learning in charter schools; charter schools’ accountability to local and state governments and to the market; racial and socioeconomic composition of charter schools; special education in charter schools; admissions and financing in charter schools; and student achievement in charter schools.”
- Does Charter School Competition Improve Traditional Public Schools? Teske, P., Schneider, M. Buckley, J., and Clark, S.; June 2000; New York, NY: Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research; ERIC # ED469277; 27 pages.
From the abstract: “Among the findings of the study are the following: Charter school competition has not induced large changes in districtwide operations; district-level attitudes toward charter schools vary widely; district-level support is not related to market share held by charter schools; school districts have been shielded from the fiscal implications of losing students; population trends may be blunting the impact of charter schools; hostility between the sectors limits the spillover from charter schools to traditional public schools; public-school officials do not believe charter schools actually provide new models or programs; charter schools and traditional public schools differ in the pattern of innovations they adopt; charter schools are more consumer friendly; charter schools may be evolving as substitutes for private schools.”
The Reference Desk also found these resources and organizations to be helpful in learning more about charter schools in general:
- National Center on School Choice
From the website: “Since 2004, the National Center on School Choice (NCSC) has been doing research on how school choice affects individuals, communities, and systems… The NCSC is funded by a 5-year, $13.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.”
- US Charter Schools
From the website: “This Web site was established in 1997 and operated until September 18th, 2004 with support from the U.S. Department of Education. Currently the site is neither supported nor endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education. The US Charter Schools Web site is a place where charter school developers, authorizers, and operators can meet, exchange ideas, and access a valuable resource library.”
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