Download or read book Nonclassroom based Charter Schools in California and the Impact of SB 740 written by Cassandra M. Guarino and published by RAND Corporation. This book was released on 2005 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charter schools are publicly funded schools that have the flexibility to operate outside normal district control. They are designed to provide greater educational choice to families, reduce bureaucratic constraints on educators, and provide competitive pressure to induce improvement in conventional public schools while remaining publicly accountable. This document reports on an evaluation of the legislatively mandated (under SB 740) process of evaluating California's nonclassroom-based (NCB) charter schools, in which instruction generally takes the form of independent study, home study, or some combination of these two with classroom-based instruction. The report concludes that the impact of SB 740 has been significant and largely in accordance with the explicit goals of the legislation. However, despite the financial savings to the state and adaptations on the part of NCB charter schools to the requirements of SB 740, the success of the legislation as a mechanism for improving education for California students is unclear, and it may have had some harmful as well as beneficial effects. SB 740 has sent a strong and important message to NCB schools that they must be careful regarding the ways in which they use resources or face strong sanctions. But the regulations need to be reshaped to fit a newly acquired understanding of how these schools operate within the context of all public education and to serve the needs of students more effectively.
Download or read book An Analysis of SB 740 s Effects on California s Nonclassroom based Charter Schools Expenditure Decision written by Trygve Rolff Christensen and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Making Sense of Charter Schools written by Ron W. Zimmer and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Charter School Operations and Performance written by Ron Zimmer and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 1999-06-30 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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?
Download or read book Beyond the Charter School Reform written by Amy Stuart Wells and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advocates and opponents of charter schools have made and refuted claims in the absence of data. This report introduces data from real schools into this discussion. It provides an overview of findings form one of the first intensive studies of charter school reform in California, the second state to pass charter school legislation and the state with the second largest number of charter schools. This 2-l/2 year study examined many of the most prominent claims of charter school advocates against the day-to-day experiences of educators, parents, and students in 17 charter schools as well as in nearby public schools in 10 school districts across the state.
Download or read book Assessing California s Charter Schools written by Jennifer Kuhn and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Charter Movement written by Jeannine L. English and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1999-08 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Liberating Learning written by Terry M. Moe and published by John Wiley and Sons. This book was released on 2009-07-15 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for Liberating Learning "Moe and Chubb have delivered a truly stunning book, rich with the prospect of how technology is already revolutionizing learning in communities from Midland, Pennsylvania to Gurgaon, India. At the same time, this is a sobering telling of the realpolitik of education, a battle in which the status quo is well defended. But most of all, this book is a call to action, a call to unleash the power of technological innovation to create an education system worthy of our aspirations and our childrens' dreams." Ted Mitchell, CEO of the New Schools Venture Fund "As long as we continue to educate students without regard for the way the real world works, we will continue to limit their choices. In Liberating Learning, Terry Moe and John Chubb push us to ask the questions we should be asking, to have the hard conversations about how far technology can go to advance student achievement in this country." Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of Education for the Washington, D.C. schools "A brilliant analysis of how technology is destined to transform America's schools for the better: not simply by generating new ways of learning, but also and surprisingly by unleashing forces that weaken its political opponents and open up the political process to educational change. A provocative, entirely novel vision of the future of American education." Rick Hanushek, the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University "Terry Moe and John Chubb, two long-time, astute observers of educational reform, see technology as the way to reverse decades of failed efforts. Technology will facilitate significantly more individualized student learning and perhaps most importantly, technology will make it harder and harder for the entrenched adult interests to block the reforms that are right for our kids. This is a provocative, informative and, ultimately, optimistic read, something we badly need in public education." Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City schools
Download or read book The Urban Challenge in Education written by Joseph Scollo and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-11-03 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the advent of charter schools in the United States, the face of public education has changed in this country. From its early beginning in Minnesota to its exponential growth in California the charter school movement has generated much controversy. It has been praised for its accomplishments, and criticized for its creaming of students. Over 130,000 students attend nearly 250 charter schools in the city of Los Angeles. This book presents an in-depth look at seventeen of those schools – urban schools that are making a difference in the lives of the students and families they serve. Readers will encounter a group of dedicated educational pioneers who are committed and passionate about their schools. These are people who have sacrificed much, and put their lives on hold to develop and implement schools that meet the needs of all students regardless of economic circumstance or background. From people who have mortgaged their homes toattain financing for their dream, to some that have changed careers to improve the quality of education for children and young adults.
Download or read book California Charter Oversight written by Rebecca E. Blanton and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study was mandated by SB537 (Simitian, Chapter 650, Stats. of 2007, codified at Ed. Code Section 47613), which requires the California Research Bureau (CRB) to prepare and submit to the Legislature a report on the key elements and actual costs of charter school oversight. Charter schools are public schools that are operated by entities other than the traditional school district. They are publicly funded, mandated to accept any student who applies, and cannot discriminate based on race, religion, sex, or geographic location. Charter schools are exempted from significant portions of the California Education Code, but are overseen by charter school authorizers. An authorizer is an entity--most often a school district--that approves the formation of a charter school and regularly reviews its academic and financial performance. Authorizers have the power to close underperforming charter schools. Both authorizers and charter schools receive state funds for their operations. Charter schools educate approximately six percent of all California students. Charter authorizers oversee the performance of these schools and are responsible for ensuring that low-performing schools are either improved or closed. Under the direction of the Legislature, CRB examined the relationship between charter authorizers and charter schools, with a special emphasis on financial arrangements that would increase the opportunity for oversight beyond the legislatively mandated oversight activities. Additionally, the Legislature requested that CRB determine if the current funding formula for charter oversight provides sufficient reimbursement for authorizer activities. Finally, CRB addressed the Legislature's request to review best practices for charter school oversight and make recommendations on improving oversight in California. This report presents four key findings. First, the author and her colleagues found that during their study period, authorizers varied widely in both the services they performed and the amounts they charged charter schools for oversight. While some authorizers reported that petition review accounted for less than $1,000 in costs, other authorizers reported petition reviews costing upwards of $112,500. Second, they uncovered no correlation between activities performed for oversight and cost of oversight among study participants. A majority of the respondents had not adopted guidelines to determine what activities or services should be paid for with money received for charter school oversight. Third, few respondents to their survey reported formally accounting for staff time and costs expended conducting charter school oversight. Hence they are unable to provide the Legislature with a meaningful estimate of the true costs of or sufficiency of funding for authorizers' charter school oversight. They found that authorizers ranged from zero to 17 full-time employees dedicated to oversight. While 61 of the 72 respondents were able to provide an estimate on expenditures to revenue ratios, only 16 authorizers reported accounting for their actual oversight costs. Fourth, they found that, while professionally-accepted standards for charter school oversight have begun to emerge, California charter authorizers vary in their adherence to these standards. Several staff at authorizing agencies CRB staff spoke with stated their agency had to "reinvent the wheel" when it came to establishing oversight practices and standards. While some authorizers utilize established professional standards, others create their own unique forms of oversight. SB537 requires CRB to make policy recommendations about the structure and function of charter school oversight. The lack of good information about the costs and revenues including the use of California Education Code section 47613 funding has limited the author's and her colleagues' ability to provide concrete guidance to the Legislature in some areas. Their recommendations are based on current, professionally-accepted standards in charter school authorization and the results of their survey findings. These are: (1) Make charters or charter petitions available to the public; (2) Improve oversight accounting for authorizer reimbursement funds; (3) Define reimbursable oversight activities under California Education Code section 47613; and (4) Use multiple metrics to evaluate charter school performance. Appended are: (1) Advisory Panel; (2) Charter School Authorizer Survey Tool; (3) State Funding Allotments for Oversight Activity; (4) Significant CA Charter School Legislation; (5) Aligned General Oversight Standards; (6) National Consensus Panel on Charter School Academic Quality/National Consensus Panel on Charter School Operational Quality; (7) NACSA Financial Red Flags; (8) Charter School Transparency Laws; (9) Additional Authorizing Experts; (10) Data Overview; and (11) Works Cited. (Contains 15 tables, 18 figures and 2 equations.) [For "California Charter Oversight: Key Elements and Actual Costs. CRB Briefly Stated," see ED528996.
Download or read book Where Charter School Policy Fails written by Amy Stuart Wells and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2002-09 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on their own in-depth study of 17 diverse charter schools in California and other recent studies from around the country, the authors explore how the laissez-faire policy of charter schools interacts with the lives of children, educators, and parents in diverse social, economic, and political contexts.
Download or read book Smarter Choices Better Education written by Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Exploring the School Choice Universe written by Kevin G. Welner and published by IAP. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the School Choice Universe: Evidence and Recommendations gives readers a comprehensive, complete picture of choice policies and issues. In doing so, it offers cross-cutting insights that are obscured when one looks only at single issue or a single approach to choice. The book examines choice in its various forms: charter schools, home schooling, online schooling, voucher plans that allow students to use taxpayer funds to attend private schools, tuition tax credit plans that provide a public subsidy for private school tuition, and magnet schools and other forms of public school intra- and interdistrict choice. It brings together some of the top researchers in the field, presenting a comprehensive overview of the best current knowledge of these important policies. The questions addressed in Exploring the School Choice Universe are of most importance to researchers and policy makers. What do choice programs actually do? What forms do they take? Who participates, and why? What are the funding implications? What are the results of different forms of school choice on outcomes that matter, like student performance, segregation, and competition effects? Do they affect teachers’ working conditions? Do they drive innovation? The contents of this book offer reason to believe that choice policies can further some educational goals. But they also suggest many reasons for caution. If choice policies are to be evidence-based, a re-examination is in order. The information, insights and recommendations facilitate a more nuanced understanding of school choice and provide the basis for designing sensible school choice reforms that can pursue a range of desirable outcomes.
Download or read book The Impact of Charter Schools on Districts in California written by Dominic Zarecki and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do charter schools impact the academic growth of their local school districts? While the literature focuses on large districts with many charters, the most common experience is for districts to have one or no charter school within their jurisdiction. We compile 15 years of data for California districts and use fixed effects analyses to estimate the changes in enrollment and academics after a first, second, or third charter school opens. After first and second charters open, districts experience an average annual decrease in enrollment of 60 students - less than 1% of total district enrollment and revenue. However, charters appear to have a non-significant or small positive (+0.02 SD) average annual impact on district academics. These and additional analyses suggest that charter schools trigger competition with their local school districts that encourage academic growth - enough competition to counter or even overcome the negative effect on academics via finances.
Download or read book Freedom and Innovation in California s Charter Schools written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book California s Charter Schools written by California. Bureau of State Audits and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Charter Movement written by Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
