scholarly journals School Choice in Indianapolis: Effects of Charter, Magnet, Private, and Traditional Public Schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Berends ◽  
R. Joseph Waddington
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Urban Region ◽  
School Type ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School

School choice researchers are often limited to comparing one type of choice with another (e.g., charter schools vs. traditional public schools). One area researchers have not examined is the effects of different school types within the same urban region. We fill this gap by analyzing longitudinal data for students (grades 3–8) in Indianapolis, using student fixed effects models to estimate the impacts of students switching from a traditional public school to a charter, magnet, Catholic, or other private school. We find that students experience no differences in their achievement gains after transferring from a traditional public school to a charter school. However, students switching to magnet schools experience modest annual losses of −0.09 standard deviation (SD) in mathematics and −0.11 SD in English Language Arts. Students switching to Catholic schools also experience annual losses of −0.18 SD in mathematics. These findings are robust to a series of alternative model specifications. Additionally, we find some variability in the mean school type impacts by students’ race/ethnicity, English language learner status, and number of years enrolled in a choice school. We discuss our results in the context of the variability of choice school effects across an entire urban area, something future research needs to examine.

scholarly journals Charter Schools and Student Achievement in Florida

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim R. Sass
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
School Quality ◽  
School Students ◽  
Public School Students ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School

I utilize longitudinal data covering all public school students in Florida to study the performance of charter schools and their competitive impact on traditional public schools. Controlling for student-level fixed effects, I find achievement initially is lower in charters. However, by their fifth year of operation new charter schools reach a par with the average traditional public school in math and produce higher reading achievement scores than their traditional public school counterparts. Among charters, those targeting at-risk and special education students demonstrate lower student achievement, while charter schools managed by for-profit entities peform no differently on average than charters run by nonprofits. Controlling for preexisting traditional public school quality, competition from charter schools is associated with modest increases in math scores and unchanged reading scores in nearby traditional public schools.

Desert Bloom?: Lessons from Two Decades of Arizona Charter Schooling

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
Robert Maranto ◽  
Alexandra Vasile
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
State Level ◽  
School Enrollment ◽  
Parent Empowerment ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Modest Improvement ◽  
Traditional Public Schools

For decades, scholars and politicians have debated the likely impacts of school choice. Yet few have studied the nation's largest state-level charter school market, Arizona, whose 20-year-old charter sector accounts for about 17% of Arizona public school enrollment. This article summarizes the extant literature on this market, some 23 studies, supplemented with original fieldwork to derive tentative lessons for social scientists and policymakers. While the charter sector seems to have promoted innovation, teacher and parent empowerment, and modest improvement in traditional public schools, findings regarding student learning and segregation are less clear.

Does Charter Status Determine Preferences? Comparing the Hiring Preferences of Charter and Traditional Public School Principals

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa Cannata ◽  
Mimi Engel
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
Charter School ◽  
School Principals ◽  
School Enrollment ◽  
Teacher Hiring ◽  
Public School Principals ◽  
Charter School Principals ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School

The academic success of any school depends on its teachers. However, relatively little research exists on the qualities principals value in teacher hiring, and we know almost nothing about charter school principals’ preferences. This article addresses this gap in the literature using survey results for a matched sample of charter and traditional public school principals. We compare regression-adjusted survey responses of charter and traditional public school principals to examine whether charter school principals report placing more emphasis on teacher hiring than principals in traditional public schools and whether principals’ preferences for teacher qualifications and characteristics vary between charter and traditional public schools. While we find some mean differences in principals’ reported hiring focus and preferences across charter and traditional public schools, regression results indicate that these differences are driven not by charter status but by school characteristics, such as average teacher experience and school enrollment.

scholarly journals Ethnic Segregation in Arizona Charter Schools

1999 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey D. Cobb ◽  
Gene V Glass
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnic Segregation ◽  
Ethnic Stratification ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School ◽  
Populated Region

Among the criticisms of charter schools is their potential to further stratify schools along ethnic and class lines. This study addressed whether Arizona charter schools are more ethnically segregated than traditional public schools. In 1996-97, Arizona had nearly one in four of all charter schools in the United States. The analysis involved a series of comparisons between the ethnic compositions of adjacent charter and public schools in Arizona's most populated region and its rural towns. This methodology differed from the approach of many evaluations of charter schools and ethnic stratification in that it incorporated the use of geographic maps to compare schools' ethnic make-ups. The ethnic compositions of 55 urban and 57 rural charter schools were inspected relative to their traditional public school neighbors.

scholarly journals Do charter schools receive their fair share of funding? School finance equity for charter and traditional public schools

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
David S. Knight ◽  
Laurence A. Toenjes
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
School Finance ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School ◽  
Finance Policy ◽  
Cost Factors

U.S. charter schools are publicly funded through state school finance formulas that often mirror the traditional public school finance systems. While charter school advocates and critics disagree over whether charters receive an equitable share of funding, few discussions are based on rigorous analyses of funding and expenditures. Most prior analyses, especially those presented in policy briefs or white papers, examine average funding differences without exploring underlying cost factors between the two sectors. Our purpose is to demonstrate how careful analysis of charter school funding with appropriate methodological approaches can shed light on disagreements about charter school finance policy. Using detailed school finance data from Texas as a case study, we find that after accounting for differences in accounting structures and cost factors, charter schools receive significantly more state and local funding compared to traditional public schools with similar structural characteristics and student demographics. However, many small charter schools are actually underfunded relative to their traditional public school counterparts. Policy simulations demonstrate that on average, each student who transfers to a charter school increases the cost to the state by $1,500. We discuss the implications of these findings for both school finance policy in Texas and nationally. 

English Language Learner Classmates and the Classroom Social Skills of Students with Disabilities

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gottfried ◽  
Morgan S. Polikoff
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
English Language ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Ell Students ◽  
General Education Classroom

Background/Context Though the development of social skills in kindergarten is critical, a research gap exists in how the context of the general education classroom may influence the social skills outcomes of students with disabilities: None have considered the role of peer effects in this domain. This gap is critical to address, as multiple high-needs groups are increasingly present in the same general education classroom settings. Purpose/Objective This study asks two key research questions: (1) In kindergarten, to what extent do the classroom social skills outcomes of children with disabilities differ based on the number of ELL classmates? (2) In kindergarten, to what extent do the classroom social skills outcomes of ELL students differ based on the number of classmates with disabilities? Population/Participants The data are sourced from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K), which is a nationally representative sample of students, teachers, and schools. Information was first collected from kindergartners (as well as parents, teachers, and school administrators) from U.S. kindergarten programs. This study utilizes data collected at the fall and spring of kindergarten. Research Design This study combines secondary data analyses and quasi-experimental methods. There are three social skills outcomes: (1) approaches to learning, (2) interpersonal skills, and (3) self control. The study begins with a baseline, linear regression model. To address issues pertaining to omitted variable bias, the study employs multilevel fixed effects modeling. Findings The coefficients indicate that students with disabilities tend to have improved social skills with an increase in the number of ELL classmates. The effects remain significant even after accounting for multiple omitted variable biases. Notably, the reverse relationship does not hold: The number of classmates with disabilities has no significant influence on the outcomes of ELL students. Conclusions/Recommendations This research offers more in-depth insight into how the classroom context and the effects of classmates may have a unique relationship for specific high-needs groups such as students with disabilities—a strand of research in this area that is often overlooked. School practices can thus be guided by determining not simply if one group of students performs better or worse on average, but rather by asking, better or worse for whom in particular?

Misrepresenting Brown: Are Ohio Schools Lost in the Free Market? General Implications for Urban Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 1203-1223
Author(s):  
Jane Beese ◽  
Jennifer Martin
Keyword(s):  
Urban Education ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Minority Student ◽  
Virtual Schools ◽  
Community Schools ◽  
Virtual School ◽  
Traditional Public Schools

The privatization of public funds for education through school choice programs has fueled the expansion of virtual online charter schools. This redirection of funds contributes to the idea that virtual school success is comparable or even superior to the performance of traditional public schools. The schools most adversely affected are the schools with the highest need, those serving children living in poverty and already underserved minority student populations: urban public schools. The purpose of this article is to investigate the performance of virtual schools and the redistribution of public monies from public to online community schools in Ohio.

A Look Back: Taking stock of public school choice in Kappan

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Teresa Preston
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Alternative Schools ◽  
Private School ◽  
Magnet Schools ◽  
Public School Choice ◽  
Look Back

In this monthly column, Kappan managing editor Teresa Preston explores how the magazine has covered the questions and controversies about school choice. Although many authors across the decades objected to the use of vouchers to pay private school tuition, those same authors lent support to the idea of choice among public schools. Advocates of public school choice have endorsed various models for providing choices, from alternative schools, to magnet schools, to charter schools.

Competitive Impacts of Means-Tested Vouchers on Public School Performance: Evidence from Louisiana

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna J. Egalite ◽  
Jonathan N. Mills
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Private School ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
First Year ◽  
Competitive Effects ◽  
Scholarship Program ◽  
Sudden Injection

Given the significant growth rate and geographic expansion of private school choice programs over the past two decades, it is important to examine how traditional public schools respond to the sudden injection of competition for students and resources. Although prior studies of this nature have been limited to Florida and Milwaukee, using multiple analytic strategies this paper examines the competitive impacts of the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) to determine its achievement impacts on students in affected public schools. Serving 4,954 students in its first year of statewide expansion, this targeted school voucher program provides public funds for low-income students in low-performing public schools to enroll in participating private schools across the state of Louisiana. Using (1) a school fixed effects approach and (2) a regression discontinuity framework to examine the achievement impacts of the LSP on students in affected public schools, this competitive effects analysis reveals neutral to positive impacts that are small in magnitude. Policy implications are discussed.

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