Episode 94: Navigating the Charter vs Public School Terrain for Student Success

Could the key to unlocking educational success for African-American and low-income students lie within the walls of charter schools? Join me as I dissect the educational outcomes from charter versus district public schools, revealing why certain students are thriving in these alternative institutions. With an extensive review of national assessment data and scholarly research, this episode promises to illuminate the nuances and mixed results that shape the current narrative. I'll traverse the demographic terrain impacting student achievement and address the complexities that make simple comparisons between charter and traditional schools anything but straightforward.

As your guide through this intricate landscape, I pull back the curtain on the charter school debate, examining the claims of both proponents and skeptics. By scrutinizing the academic journey of charter school students, particularly those who may start with greater challenges, I uncover the strides being made and the accountability that drives continuous improvement. Through the lens of rigorous studies, I analyze the varied quality and focus of charter schools, considering their influence on the educational ecosystem at large. Expect to emerge from this episode with a richer understanding of the charter school effect, as I probe the evidence and explore whether these schools are meeting the mark in promoting student achievement.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:40

Welcome to another episode of K-12 Education Untangled. My name is Dr Kim Fields, former corporate manager turned educational researcher and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as experiencing the micro discriminations that I faced as an African American mom raising my two kids, who were in the public school system, I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. Once I gained the information and the insights that I needed, I was then equipped to be able to successfully support my children in their educational progress. If you're looking to find out more about current information and issues in education that could affect you or your children, then you're in the right place. Thanks for tuning in today. I know that staying informed about K-12 education trends and topics is important to you, so keep listening.

Speaker 1: 1:52

On today's episode, I'll be discussing academic achievement in charter schools versus district public schools and whether one has a proven track record for consistent academic achievement. Charter schools versus district public schools the research and comparison of these two types of schools has persisted for over 20 years. The topic of the research ranges from format policies and funding for charter schools to competition for the students of color who leave the public school system. There's been debate over whether academic achievement in charter schools is better or worse than district public schools, and that's the topic of this episode. Let's untangle this. Although charter schools are public schools, I distinguished them from non-charter public schools or traditional schools, sometimes called district schools. Charter schools have a significant amount of autonomy and are not subject to the same regulations and bureaucratic structures as typical district public schools. My discussion in this episode does not include the topic of virtual charter schools, which may be a topic to be discussed in some future episodes. The first charter school opened in Minnesota in 1992. School systems in 43 states and the District of Columbia now include charter schools, and in states like California, arizona and Florida, as well as Louisiana, more than one in 10 school students attend charter schools. In some big cities, the numbers for students who attend charter schools are even larger 45% in Washington DC, 37% in Philadelphia and 15% in Los Angeles. About one fourth of charter schools are operated by management foundations, approximately 45% by nonprofit organizations and about 55% are operated by for-profit organizations.

Speaker 1: 4:08

The results from different studies on academic achievement in charter schools versus district public schools are mixed. One study found that proportionately fewer fourth and eighth grade charter school students were likely to reach proficiency levels on math and reading tests compared to students in other public schools. Differences in math performance persisted even after controlling full race or ethnicity of students, location, teacher experience, subsidized learning eligibility or student disability. On the other hand, another set of studies researchers found that charter school status had a positive effect on academic achievement, performing public schools and reading and math proficiency. This study suggested that charter schools were beneficial for poor and Hispanic students. Overall, the research is true that some general lessons about the importance of school type and that affecting certain higher achievement may exist. However, there were some significant limitations in that investigation. One little limitation was that the study focused primarily on fourth grade, which raised the question of whether the results in other grades would be similar. Further, the analysis in the studies assumed that charter schools drew from nearby public schools and while this may be true, there is reason to believe that charter schools also draw from a wide range of public schools and districts, even private schools and other charter schools, suggesting the need for a larger scope of comparison Based on mathematics achievement data.

Speaker 1: 5:56

In a 2006 study district, public schools had significant achievement compared to charter schools when controlling for differences in student populations. Public school achievement was roughly equal to or higher than that of charter schools. The results for fourth and eighth grade students indicated that no charter school math scores were higher than public school mean scores to any statistically significant degree. More so, particularly at the fourth grade, public schools actually scored significantly higher than charter schools on national math tests. Even after the demographic differences were accounted for, public school achievement means were higher than charter school means at grade four. These results did not hold true for grade eight. In the end, the results of the studies suggest that, despite issues faced by public schools, they appear to be performing relatively well when compared to demographically simmered charter schools. It's worth noting that it's becoming increasingly difficult to speak of quote unquote charter schools because of the variation between the authorizing legislation in different states. A wide variety of charter schools has emerged. Some are small scale independent operations, others are run by management companies, some have a particular social mission and others are run by for-profit organizations and have a for-profit orientation.

Speaker 1: 7:36

A 2021 study focused on trends in student performance from 2005 to 2017, usually the national assessment of education progress are NAEP data of reading and math test scores, using a nationally representative sample of students taken every other year. This was the first study to use nationally representative data to track changes in student achievement within charter schools and district schools. The analysis in the study showed that student cohorts in charter schools make greater gains from 2005 to 2017 when compared to students in district schools. The difference in these trends between the two school groups amounts to nearly an additional half years worth of learning. The biggest gains were for African-American students and for students of low socioeconomic status who attend charter schools. Eighth grade math scores of African-American students at charter schools improved by an amount four times as large as the gain at district schools during the 2005 to 2017 timeframe. The research that examined academic students in charter schools and district schools had a single point in time as compared to a range of dates Generally found that there were no measurable differences between academic achievement in charter schools versus district schools. Charters did, however, show statistically significant and educationally meaningful achievement gains for low-income students, students of color and English-language learners.

Speaker 1: 9:19

One in three charter students is African-American. White students also account for one in three charter school students. Hispanic students are doing well in both charter schools and district schools. Asian-americans are the smallest ethnic group within the charter schools sector. Their performance on national math and reading tests during the period of 2005 to 2017 was higher than all the tested students in both district and charter schools, including scores for the three larger groups.

Speaker 1: 9:55

The study found that between 2005 and 2017, students in district schools' performance trended upward by about a half years' worth of learning. This trend was particularly favorable for Hispanic students, asian-american students, students in the western part of the United States and students in the lowest quarter of the socioeconomic distribution. The performance of students at charter schools increased more steeply than the trend at district schools. The steepest gains at charter schools were for African-American students, students in the northeastern area of the United States and those from households in the lowest quarter of the socioeconomic distribution. The researchers surmised that improved teaching in the environments in charter schools accounted for most, if not all, of the increased achievement, because charter schools were believed to be more able to operate effectively and efficiently than regular public schools and therefore due to their significant autonomy.

Speaker 1: 11:56

Many people believed the competition between charter schools and non-charter schools may force poorly performing public schools to reform or close, and this could result in better educational achievement for all students, not just students in charter schools. This study in 2018 examined whether academic outcomes, as measured by average school level SAT scores, were significantly better than charter schools than they were in non-charter public schools. The study used school level data from the Massachusetts Department of Education and Secondary Education, as well as state-right reports and the SAT performance reports. The results indicated the charter schools' positive impact on both math and reading SAT scores. Additionally, public and charter schools that had higher percentages of African Americans and Hispanic students had lower average SAT scores, whereas public and charter schools that had a greater percentage of students completed the Massachusetts core curriculum at higher average SAT scores. Additionally, charter and public schools that had higher percentages of Asian students had higher average SAT scores. Again, it's important to remember that charter schools have much more diverse student populations than non-charter public schools. For the period of time that was examined for this study, 2011 through 2017, the average percentage of students who were African American was 4% for non-charter schools and 28% for charter schools. An average percentage of Hispanic students was 11% for non-charter schools and 19% for charter schools. Therefore, racial compensation, as well as attendance rates, may have a large impact on academic performance and maybe even a larger impact than the mere status of a charter school. This warrants the need for additional research on the impact of socioeconomic factors on students' academic performance.

Speaker 1: 14:14

The average charter school student is academically behind when entering charter schools compared to students that remain in traditional public schools. Because of this, charter school students are less likely to be at grade level standards compared to students in traditional public schools. However, students who are furthest behind make slightly more progress in charter schools than do similar students in traditional public schools. Charter schools are required to meet all state and federal education standards and, in addition, they are judged on how well they meet student achievement goals that are established by their charter contracts. Given that public charter schools are funded with public dollars, they are accountable with taxpayer dollars spent and have an oversight best conducted through audits and ongoing reviews from their authorizing entities.

Speaker 1: 15:10

Interestingly, the author once posited that the achievement of students in traditional public schools could increase if the competition from charter schools for students and funding enticed traditional public schools to become more productive. The author also indicated that charter schools may potentially achieve at lower rates than traditional public schools if charter schools received less funding, were operated by less experienced or less qualified officials, provided a peer environment that was less conducive to achievement or, for some other reason, was unable to provide an effective educational program. There was no evidence that charter schools attracted the best students from traditional public schools. For example, some Arizona charter schools have become havens for students with special problems, returning former dropouts and other students referred to them by traditional public schools. Researchers found that students who attend charter schools were average or lower performing than other students at traditional public schools that they left, and the performance gap was greatest for African-American students. This research also found that states with districts of higher percentages of African-American and college educated adults had substantially larger amounts of students enrolled in charter schools. It also found that in districts that had lower achievement and lower graduation rates, the higher the charter school population.

Speaker 1: 16:46

Charter schools don't typically show achievement results in math and reading until around the year five, because the first one to three years of operations is all about focusing on viability as a new start-up entity At best. Student achievement in charter schools versus traditional public schools, based on numerous studies, have found positive, negative, non-significant and mixed results. Where there were positive gains in academic achievement, they were within one to two percentage point differences when compared to traditional public schools. Most of the studies that examined student academic achievement in charter schools versus traditional public schools. Dealt with achievement in elementary school or middle school, charter high schools weren't performing as well as charter schools at lower grades. Based on currently available data, in some cases the presence of charter schools has resulted in positive changes in some traditional public schools, but in other cases there appear to be no impacts, either positive or negative. Public charter schools found in urban areas tend to serve more disadvantaged and minority students. Roughly 55% of public charter schools are located in large urban settings and cities, while only approximately 16% are located in rural areas. Across the United States.

Speaker 1: 18:25

Proponents of charter schools influence on driving traditional public schools to be more competitive indicate that charter schools help to make traditional public schools better. However, it's still unclear whether charter schools create an atmosphere of competition that forces traditional public schools to change practices. Again, the results are mixed. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools reported that approximately 150 public charter schools closed in 2011 through 2012. The closures were a result of a variety of reasons, including low enrollments and financial conditions, but a major reason was low student performance, and analysis of charter schools in four cities of Albany, chicago, denver and Indianapolis revealed that charter schools performing well tended to continue performing well, while charter schools that were performing poorly tended to continue performing poorly. The evidence indicates that some public charter schools perform well even in their first year of existence, and that first year is a very good indicator of how well the school will perform over time. There may be exceptions to this finding, but in the majority of cases the first year of performance appears to be a good barometer of later performance.

Speaker 1: 19:55

Empirical evidence does not support the claim that charter schools take the best students from traditional public schools. The majority of public charter schools nationwide enroll more disadvantaged and minority students than traditional public schools. Public charter schools across the nation enroll, on average, low-income students, black and Latino students and students who perform lower on standardized assessments before transferring to charter schools. The public policy laws governing public charter schools in most states prohibits selectivity in student enrollments and most use a lottery system to govern enrollment. The flip side of the claim that charter schools take the best students is the argument that charter schools push out lower performing students. Reportedly, charter schools push out students who are not performing well in order to improve their overall school academic performance and, at the same time, reduce the costs associated with educating the more challenging students. This does not appear to be the case, but that's just based on one study, so, again, more research is needed in this area. In the end, the impacts of charter schools on student academic achievement appear to be very contextual. Some public charter schools are better than others, and some are more successful in meeting student needs, while others are not so successful. In other words, public charter schools are just like traditional public schools, where academic achievement success depends on a variety of factors.

Speaker 1: 21:44

Here are this episode's takeaways. Although charter schools have been in existence for over 30 years, the research indicates whether they are outperforming or underperforming traditional public schools is mixed. There are some studies that indicate that charter schools outperform traditional public schools and reading scores at the elementary school level, yet there are other studies that indicate that charter schools do not perform as well as traditional public schools in eighth grade math scores. What has been consistent in the research is that charter schools seem to be advantageous for children of color, especially African American and Hispanic students. The students observed in these analyses are typically charter school students versus students of color that remain in traditional public schools.

Speaker 1: 22:38

Charter school quality is uneven across states and across schools. The focus of some charter schools is also variable, since some charter schools focus on performing arts, science, engineering, dual languages and other specialties. The bottom line is that the jury is still out on the impacts of public charter school student academic achievement versus traditional public school student academic achievement. Ultimately, the choice is yours as to whether you enroll your child in a charter school or keep them in a traditional public school. Thank you for listening today. I hope you'll come back for more K-12 educational discussions with even more exciting topics to untake. Be sure to stay tuned. On the next episode I'll be exploring how to raise your child to have high self-esteem. Until next time, I aim to learn something new every day.