Charter Schools in Action: Final Report

July 1, 1997

by Louann Bierlein Palmer, Chester E. Finn, Jr., Bruno V. Manno, Gregg Vanourek

HUDSON INSTITUTE

Charter Schools in Action Project

Final Report, 1997

Contents

• Final Report, Part I (June 1997), Charter Schools As Seen by Those Who Know Them Best
• Final Report, Part II (August 1997), The Birth-Pains and Life-Cycles of Charter Schools
• Final Report, Part III (August 1997), The Policy Perils of Charter Schools.
• Final Report, Part IV (August 1997), Charter School Accountability: Problems and Prospects.
• Final Report, Part V (August 1997), The Educational Impact of Charter Schools.
• Final Report, Part VI (August 1997), How Charter Schools Are Different: Lessons and Implications.
• Charter Schools in Action Survey Instruments (Student, Teacher, and Parent).

Final Report, Part I (June 1997), Charter Schools As Seen by Those Who Know Them Best

HUDSON INSTITUTE

Charter Schools in Action Project

Final Report, Part I June 1997

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"Charter Schools As Seen by Those Who Know Them Best:
Students, Teachers, and Parents"

by Gregg Vanourek, Bruno V. Manno, Chester E. Finn, Jr., and Louann A. Bierlein

 

Executive Summary

(1) Charter schools are havens for children who had bad educational experiences elsewhere--low-income children, "at-risk" children, minority children, children with learning disabilities and behavior problems, etc. They (and their parents) report that they're doing better than in their previous schools (if they were in school at all). These improvements are reported across the board: for children of all ages, races, and genders; for children from public, private, and "home" schools; for children with learning disabilities, limited English proficiency, and other special needs; and children from families in all income brackets.

• Among students performing "poorly" in their previous school (as judged by their parents), nearly half are now doing "excellent" or "above average" work.
• The number of students doing "excellent" or "good" work rose 23.4% for African-Americans and 21.8% for Hispanics after enrolling in charter schools. Similar gains were made by low-income students of all races.

(2) Charter schools are very popular with their primary constituents: their students, parents, and teachers. Pupils are interested in their school work, pleased with their teachers, and likely to return next year. Their parents are satisfied and engaged. Their teachers prize what the school is doing, like working in it, and believe it is succeeding.

• Three-fifths of students report that their charter school teachers are better than their previous schools' teachers.
• Over two-thirds of parents say their charter school is better than their child's previous school with respect to class size, school size, and individual attention from teachers. Over three-fifths say it is better with respect to teaching quality, parental involvement, curriculum, extra help for students, academic standards, accessibility and openness, and discipline.

(3) Families and teachers are seeking out charter schools primarily for educational reasons: high academic standards, small classes, a focus on teaching and learning, educational philosophies that are closer to their own, and innovative approaches to instruction.

• When asked why they chose charter schools, the top answers from parents are: small size (53.0%), higher standards (45.9%), educational philosophy (44.0%), greater opportunities for parental involvement (43.0%), and better teachers (41.9%).
• The top reasons for teachers are educational philosophy (76.8%), wanting a new school (64.8%), like-minded colleagues (62.9%), good administrators (54.6%), and class size (54.2%).

(4) Satisfaction levels are highest for all three groups when it comes to educational matters (curriculum, teaching, class size, etc.) and lowest when it comes to non-educational matters (food, facility, sports, etc.), indicating that charters are deploying their limited resources on "the basics."

• When students were asked what they like about their charter school, the most frequent answers were: "good teachers" (58.6%), "they teach it until I learn it" (51.3%), and "they don't let me fall behind" (38.5%).
• Two-thirds of parents thought their charter school has a more satisfactory class size, more individual attention, better teaching, and a stronger curriculum than their child's previous school, compared to just 2-3% who thought these were worse.

(5) The teachers feel empowered. Charter school teachers are a diverse lot, but nearly all are finding personal fulfillment and professional reward.

• Over 90% of teachers are "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with their charter school's educational philosophy, size, fellow teachers, and students; over three-quarters are satisfied with their school's administrators, level of teacher decision-making, and the challenge of starting a new school.
• Only 2.7% of charter school teachers say they "hope to be elsewhere" next year.

 

Charter Schools As Seen by Those Who Know Them Best:
Students, Teachers, and Parents

Given today's appetite for education reform among American citizens and the explosive growth of charter schools nationally, scores of analysts and agencies are scrambling to learn about their enrollment patterns, demographics, and educational characteristics. Yet nobody, to our knowledge, has engaged in a systematic nationwide effort to ask the clients and teachers of charter schools what they think of these new educational providers. So we did.

During the 1996-97 school year, Hudson Institute's Charter Schools in Action Project gathered four sets of quantitative data that yield a revealing portrait of 50 charter schools enrolling some 16,000 students in 10 states. The primary topics we probed were satisfaction levels among the schools' essential constituents, comparisons between charter schools and schools that students would otherwise be attending (or had previously attended), reasons for choosing charter schools, and basic demographics.

What is offered here, then, is not just an echo of others' work-such as the excellent new Department of Education charter school study, various state-level reports, or even our own report from last year1 -but a new and distinctive body of information intended to supply policymakers, educators, journalists, and fellow analysts with early feedback from the "constituents" of charter schools. We begin with their foremost constituents: the students.

How Students Grade Their Charter Schools

Nearly 5,000 charter school students in grades five and above completed survey forms. They were asked what they liked (15 options were provided) and disliked (17 options) about their charter schools and encouraged to check all that applied. On average, they noted 4.6 likes and 2.7 dislikes. (See Table 1.)

Table 1. Students' Likes and Dislikes About Charter School

Students' "Likes"		Dislikes
Good teachers	58.6%	Poor sports program	29.4%
They teach it until I learn it	51.3%	Not enough other activities	29.4%
Don't let me fall behind	38.5%	Food	28.6%
Computers & technology	35.7%	Too much homework	28.5%
Nice people running the school	34.9%	Boring	23.4%
Teacher's attention	33.9%	Not enough computers/technology	21.8%
Class size	33.9%	Too strict	19.7%
Curriculum	33.3%	Difficult commute	14.5%
Safety	27.5%	Poor facilities	12.1%
School size	25.4%	I could be learning more	11.7%
Other out-of-school activities	19.8%	Bad teachers	9.1%
A lot is expected of me	19.7%	School too big or too small	7.5%
Opportunities for parent participation	15.9%	Not enough homework	6.9%
Sports program	15.8%	Classes too big or too small	6.7%
Food	12.0%	Too tough academically	6.7%
		Not safe enough	6.3%
		Not strict enough	6.0%

"Sample A" student survey respondents from 39 charter schools across 10 states; N=4,954 (February 1997); percentages may not add to 100% due to invalid and non-responses.]

Asked "What do you like about this school?", the most frequent answers were: "good teachers" (58.6%), "they teach it until I learn it" (51.3%), and "they don't let me fall behind" (38.5%). We found it interesting that the top three answers had to do with instruction. The next most frequent answer-"computers and technology" (35.7%)-was somewhat surprising, since our site visits yielded many complaints about a lack of technology due to budget constraints. Some charter schools, however, have developed sophisticated technology programs. (One California school, for example, is now wired with fiber optics and has a TV station.)

The next cluster of answers-"nice people running the school" (34.9%), "teacher's attention" (33.9%), "class size" (33.9%), and "curriculum" (33.3%)-mostly had to do with educational practices. Over all, among the eight most frequent answers, six concern teaching and learning. By contrast, when asked "What do you dislike about this school?" three of the four most common responses concerned non-academic matters: "poor sports program" (29.4%), "not enough other activities" (29.4%), "food" (28.6%), and "too much homework" (28.5%). Although these dislikes were noted by only a quarter to a third of students, they do send a message to charter school leaders about what they'll need to work on in the future to keep their constituents happy.

Charter Schools vs. Schools Previously Attended

On two questions, students were asked to rate features of their charter school against those of their previous school. On both counts, charter schools rate significantly higher. (See Table 2.)

Table 2. Students' Comparison with Previous School

		MY TEACHERS
	Better	About the Same	Worse
All Students	60.7%	27.0%	4.8%
Prior Public School Students	65.2%	24.7%	5.5%
Prior Private School Students	48.5%	37.1%	6.6%
Other*	52.1%	32.3%	1.9%
White	64.9%	25.0%	4.0%
Black	56.1%	26.3%	7.4%
Hispanic	60.3%	25.0%	5.5%
Asian	62.0%	29.3%	4.0%
Native American	44.2%	47.7%	3.8%
		MY INTEREST IN SCHOOL WORK
	More	About the Same	Less
All Students	49.9%	35.4%	7.7%
Prior Public School Students	52.4%	34.4%	8.4%
Prior Private School Students	42.1%	43.7%	9.6%
Other*	46.5%	37.2%	4.4%
White	52.9%	34.9%	7.4%
Black	50.5%	31.4%	8.1%
Hispanic	49.8%	33.7%	8.5%
Asian	50.0%	40.7%	5.3%
Native American	37.6%	50.0%	7.8%

["Sample A" student survey respondents from 39 charter schools across 10 states; N=4,954 (February 1997); percentages may not add to 100% due to invalid and non-responses.
* "Other" refers to children who were home-schooled, who attended another charter school before this one, or who did not attend school last year.]

Three students out of five (60.7%) say that their charter teachers are "better" than teachers at their previous school. And half (49.9%) say they are more interested in their school work. Just one in twenty reports worse teachers and one in thirteen has less interest in school work. Bear in mind that surveys were given only to youngsters in the middle and high school grades, a pupil population often considered hard for schools to please. From Table 2 we can deduce that there is particular satisfaction among students who have left traditional public schools and that student satisfaction crosses racial and ethnic lines.2

Comparative Academic Performance

Charter school students report that they are doing better, on average, at their charter school than at their previous school. (See Table 3.)

Table 3. Students' Rating of Their Performance (by Race/Ethnicity)

	Excellent	Good	Average	Poor	Failing
All Students
Previous School	16.0%	26.7%	26.3%	13.3%	10.3%
Current Charter Schl.	20.9%	41.2%	24.4%	5.3%	1.8%
Change	+4.9%	+14.5%	-1.9%	-8.0%	-8.5%
White
Previous School	19.0%	27.6%	24.8%	12.7%	10.0%
Current Charter Schl.	23.4%	43.2%	22.2%	4.6%	1.4%
Change	+4.4%	+15.6%	-2.6%	-8.1%	-8.6%
Black
Previous School	12.5%	22.7%	28.0%	14.9%	10.2%
Current Charter Schl.	20.2%	38.4%	24.0%	5.7%	2.5%
Change	+7.7%	+15.7%	-4.0%	-9.2%	-7.7%
Hispanic
Previous School	12.2%	25.3%	27.1%	14.1%	12.8%
Current Charter Schl.	18.6%	40.7%	26.2%	7.0%	1.8%
Change	+6.4%	+15.4%	-0.9%	-7.1%	-11.0%
Asian
Previous School	13.3%	28.7%	26.7%	12.7%	15.3%
Current Charter Schl.	18.0%	40.0%	29.3%	6.0%	2.0%
Change	+4.7%	+11.3%	+2.6%	-6.7%	-13.3%
Native American
Previous School	14.6%	29.5%	36.6%	10.9%	5.3%
Current Charter Schl.	15.4%	39.9%	35.1%	5.3%	1.0%
Change	+0.8%	+10.4%	-1.5%	-5.6%	-4.3%

["Sample A" student survey respondents from 39 charter schools across 10 states; N=4,954 (February 1997); percentages may not add to 100% due to invalid and non-responses.]

The proportion of students doing "excellent" or "good" work rose by 4.9% and 14.5% respectively. Those doing "average" work declined a little. The proportion doing "poorly" fell by 8.0% and those "failing" by 8.5%. Clearly, the numbers are moving in the right direction

Dramatic improvement occurred in many cases. Among students who report that they did poorly at their previous school, 16.9% are now doing "excellent" work and 43.3% are doing "good" work. Of those failing at their previous school, 19.8% are now doing "excellent" work and 36.5% are doing "good" work. (See Table 4.)

Table 4. Student Performance Improvements (As Noted by Students)*

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% of Those Performing "Poorly" at Previous School Who Are Now:

Excellent ..... 16.9%
Good ........... 43.3%
Average ....... 30.7%
Poor .............. 5.9%
Failing ........... 1.1%

% of Those "Failing" at Previous School Who Are Now:

Excellent ..... 19.8%
Good ........... 36.5%
Average ....... 29.6%
Poor .............. 6.5%
Failing ........... 3.5%

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Student Performance Improvements (As Noted by Parents)**

% of Those Performing "Below Average" at Previous School Who Are Now:

Excellent ............... 8.2%
Above Average .... 23.8%
Average ............... 55.1%
Below Average ..... 11.7%
Poor ...................... 1.2%

% of Those Performing "Poorly" at Previous School Who Are Now:

Excellent ............... 18.9%
Above Average .... 25.6%
Average ................ 36.5%
Below Average ..... 16.0%
Poor ....................... 3.2%

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[* "Sample A" student survey respondents from 39 charter schools across 10 states; N=4,954 (February 1997); percentages may not add to 100% due to invalid and non-responses.
**"Sample B" parent survey respondents from 30 charter schools across 9 states; N=2,978 (February 1997); percentages may not add to 100% due to invalid and non-responses.]

Charter school parents also appraised the academic performance of their children at their previous schools and (as of February 1997) at their charter school. Among parents who report that their children did "below average" work at their previous school, 8.2% indicate that their sons and daughters are now doing "excellent" work and 23.8% say their child is now doing "above average" work. Of those whose children did "poorly" at their previous school, 18.9% now report "excellent" work and 25.6% report "above average" work by their children. Again, the numbers are moving in the right direction.

In our sample alone, 814 children have moved out of the poor/failing category by changing to charter schools. That's 70% of all the children who say they were in that performance category in their previous school-a remarkable achievement.

According to Table 5, more students are doing "excellent" or "above average" work in their charter school than in their previous school (as reported by parents). Indeed, the number of their children doing "excellent" or "above average" work increased by 22.7%, while the number doing "below average" or "poor" work decreased by 12.7%. What is striking is that these trends also hold true for special education, gifted, and limited English proficiency (LEP) students.

Table 5. Parental Rating of Child's Overall Performance*

	Previous School	Current Charter School	Change
Total
Excellent	14.0%	24.5%	+10.5%
Above Average	20.0%	32.2%	+12.2%
Average	27.0%	30.3%	+3.3%
Below Average	12.0%	4.0%	-8.0%
Poor	5.3%	0.6%	-4.7%
Special Educ.**
Excellent	5.9%	11.0%	+5.1%
Above Average	10.6%	26.8%	+16.2%
Average	36.8%	48.6%	+11.8%
Below Average	32.2%	11.8%	-20.4%
Poor	14.5%	1.8%	-12.7%
Gifted**
Excellent	26.9%	37.4%	+10.5%
Above Average	33.3%	40.7%	+7.4%
Average	26.5%	19.0%	-7.5%
Below Average	8.4%	2.3%	-6.1%
Poor	4.9%	0.6%	-4.3%
LEP
Excellent	22.7%	27.6%	+4.9%
Above Average	20.5%	35.3%	+14.8%
Average	39.8%	28.4%	-11.4%
Below Average	10.2%	7.8%	-2.4%
Poor	6.8%	0.9%	-5.9%

[* "Sample B" parent survey respondents from 30 charter schools across 9 states; N=2,978 (February 1997); percentages may not add to 100% due to invalid and non-responses.
** "Special Education" students are those identified by their parents as "not learning quickly, needing extra help," having a "physical disability," having "behavior problems," and/or having a "learning disability." "Gifted" students are those noted as being a "fast learner, often bored."]

Levels of Satisfaction Among Parents

When asked "How satisfied are you with specific features of this school?", a clear trend emerges: most of the top answers (class size, curriculum, school size, individual attention by teachers, academic standards for students) are education-related, while most of the lower-ranked answers concern such non-instructional matters as facilities, extracurricular activities, transportation, food, and sports. Note, though, that even the "bottom" answers are very positive. If converted to letter-grade equivalents, all of the grades would be A's or B's. Parents, overall, seem remarkably pleased with most aspects of their child's charter school (See Table 6.)

Table 6. Overall Parental Satisfaction with Charter School

	Very Satisfied	Somewhat Satisfied	Uncertain	Not Too Satisfied	Quite Dissatisfied
Opportunities for parent participation	75.9%	17.7%	5.1%	1.1%	0.3%
Class size	75.2%	19.2%	3.0%	2.3%	0.3%
Curriculum	71.6%	22.9%	3.4%	1.9%	0.2%
School size	74.5%	18.6%	4.5%	1.9%	0.6%
Individual attention by teachers	70.8%	21.5%	5.2%	2.0%	0.5%
Academic standards for students	67.8%	22.4%	6.7%	2.5%	0.6%
Accessibility and openness	66.1%	23.6%	7.3%	2.2%	0.8%
How much school expects of parents	66.0%	23.2%	7.8%	2.2%	0.8%
People running the school	62.2%	26.4%	7.7%	2.7%	1.0%
Quality of teaching	56.6%	32.4%	8.1%	2.2%	0.8%
Technology	55.8%	24.6%	11.3%	5.9%	2.3%
School facilities	44.8%	34.1%	9.6%	8.5%	3.0%
Extracurricular activities	43.1%	28.9%	20.0%	5.7%	2.2%
Transportation	49.8%	22.9%	10.5%	10.0%	6.9%
Food	42.3%	27.4%	14.3%	9.3%	6.7%
Sports program	23.0%	37.0%	10.3%	22.8%	6.8%

[* "Sample B" parent survey respondents from 30 charter schools across 9 states; N=2,978 (February 1997); percentages may not add to 100% due to invalid and non-responses.]

When parents were asked to rate their child's charter school against their other options ("Please compare this charter school with the school your child would otherwise be attending this year"), they ranked the charter schools higher on every single indicator-but especially on individual attention and class/school size, and also on curriculum and teaching. Facilities received the worst rating from charter-school parents-a grade that is unsurprising to us after 45 site visits to charter schools, many of them in very meager quarters. Yet even here, 42% of parents say that charter school facilities are better while only 15% say they're worse. (See Table 7.)

Table 7. Overall Parent Rating of Charter School vs. School Child Would Otherwise Attend

	Better	About the Same	Worse
Class size	69.3%	16.3%	2.5%
Individual attention by teachers	69.9%	16.7%	2.7%
School size	68.6%	13.1%	4.4%
Quality of teaching	65.7%	19.7%	2.0%
Parent involvement	64.0%	21.3%	2.2%
Curriculum	65.0%	20.8%	3.1%
Extra help for students	64.3%	19.7%	3.3%
Academic standards	63.0%	22.2%	3.0%
Accessibility and openness	60.5%	23.0%	2.5%
Discipline	60.2%	23.6%	3.6%
Basic skills	58.8%	25.7%	2.4%
Safety	59.5%	24.5%	3.5%
School facilities	42.0%	27.1%	15.1%

[* "Sample B" parent survey respondents from 30 charter schools across 9 states; N=2,978 (February 1997); percentages may not add to 100% due to invalid and non-responses.]

Parent satisfaction is also high for parents of children with special needs (e.g., special education students, gifted children, and LEP students). About two-thirds of parents with children in these categories think their charter school is better than the schools their children would otherwise attend when it comes to curriculum, quality of teaching, providing extra help when needed, and parental involvement.3 (See Table 8.)

Table 8. Parents' Rating of Charter School vs. School Child Would Otherwise Attend (By Parents of Special Needs Students)*

	Special Education	Gifted	LEP
Curriculum
Better	64.5%	69.6%	75.4%
About the Same	21.8%	18.3%	15.4%
Worse	4.9%	3.0%	0.8%
Quality of Teaching
Better	67.1%	67.6%	61.5%
About the Same	20.6%	19.5%	22.3%
Worse	2.4%	2.4%	0.0%
Extra Help
Better	68.1%	65.9%	64.6%
About the Same	17.6%	20.6%	18.5%
Worse	4.3%	3.2%	0.8%
Parent Involvement
Better	65.0%	68.3%	52.3%
About the Same	23.6%	19.2%	27.7%
Worse	1.8%	2.4%	0.8%

[* "Sample B" parent survey respondents from 30 charter schools across 9 states; N=2,978 (February 1997); percentages may not add to 100% due to invalid and non-responses.
** "Special Education" students are those identified by their parents as "not learning quickly, needing extra help," having a "physical disability," having "behavior problems," and/or having a "learning disability." "Gifted" students are those noted as being a "fast learner, often bored."
*** "LEP" stands for Limited English Proficiency.]

Here again, the surveys reveal strong satisfaction and a high degree of conviction that this school is better for their youngster than other available options on a wide array of factors. Several state-level evaluations of charter schools have drawn similar conclusions.4

These satisfaction levels for charter schools stand out in a time when there is growing dissatisfaction with traditional public schools. According to recent surveys by Public Agenda, 61% of Americans complained about public-school standards being too low, and 60% said that schools do not place enough emphasis on "the basics."5 Almost half (47%) of Americans said that they did not believe that a high school degree is a guarantee that a student has learned the basics.6 In a 1995 report, Public Agenda described popular support for America's public schools as "fragile" and "porous" and warned of a "public poised for flight" unless schools begin to deliver on what the public considers to be the essential elements of education (which it listed as: safety, higher standards, order, and smaller classes).7

How Teachers Grade Their Charter Schools

When teachers were asked "How satisfied are you with specific features of this school and your experience in it?", the answers indicate a high degree of satisfaction with key aspects of the schools. (See Table 9.)

Table 9. Teacher Satisfaction with Charter School

	Very Satisfied	Somewhat Satisfied	Uncertain	Not Too Satisfied	Quite Dissatisfied
Fellow teachers	61.2%	33.2%	3.3%	2.1%	0.2%
Educational philosophy	61.6%	31.6%	4.3%	1.9%	0.6%
School size	59.1%	31.8%	5.6%	3.1%	0.4%
Students	50.9%	40.4%	5.4%	2.9%	0.4%
Challenge of starting a new school	50.5%	33.5%	13.7%	2.0%	0.4%
Administrators	53.6%	31.8%	7.1%	5.3%	2.2%
Teacher decisionmaking	46.6%	31.9%	11.6%	7.4%	2.5%
Governing board	38.4%	32.2%	22.7%	4.1%	2.5%
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