Thesis advisor: Joseph O'Keefe / This study applied the economic theory of marketplace competition as a framework to explore how district superintendents perceive the existence of charter schools by examining their perceptions about whether or not charter schools are stimulating competition for consumers in public school districts. As its underlying foundation, the study used the driving forces of competition and innovation as expressed in the legislative intent of the 1993 Massachusetts law that designed created charter schools to provide an alternative to district schools by promoting innovation. This mixed methods sequential explanatory designed study has yielded findings about superintendents' perceptions of charter schools within the context of a competitive educational marketplace. Not only do superintendents sense urgency to act within a competitive charter school market, but other schooling options for students similarly add competitive pressure. Superintendents perceive that the impact on their district budget is constraining, and that the funding formula does not take into consideration school systems' economies of scale. Most superintendents perceive the choice market as limited or a "quasi-market" unlike in a pure market-based economy where cost is a driving factor. This study found that there is considerable sentiment among superintendents that charter schools separate communities and decrease democratic principles of education by separating society into smaller homogeneous groups, thereby endangering the growth of a multicultural society. And lastly, all superintendents who were interviewed expressed concern that the driving force of this movement - the charter school legislation - has not been implemented as intended. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Since the advent of charter schools in 1992, the population of students and number of schools has dramatically increased. Because a second generation of students have charter schools as a choice, it is important to understand what motivates children and their parents to choose these schools. Recent research has revealed that family motivations are complicated and differ by specific contexts. In this study, I interviewed 59 incoming parents and children at a small public charter school in southern Oregon with a unique population in its locale. Interviews were designed to elicit quantitative and qualitative data regarding motivations for choosing this specific school. Study results indicate that parents and their children leave traditional schools for primarily environmental and academic reasons, although the results were mixed. Families chose the school in this study for primarily environmental factors, particularly class and school size. I discuss implications for the charter school and its sponsoring district and suggest areas of further local research.

The deepening dissatisfaction with traditional public schools has inspired changes in the educational system. In less than a decade charter schools have gone from nonexistent to widespread. Charter schools are different from other reforms because charter schools tend to vary in terms of their performance and population served. Some charter schools are obviously more effective than others in terms of their performance on reading, writing and mathematics state-mandated tests. Therefore, the purpose of this study of the correlates of charter school effectiveness is to measure the strength and direction of their relationships between charter schools performance and their organizational, financial and organizational characteristics. My research concludes that among the demographic, financial and organizational variables selected the attendance rate; the central administration expenses and the total number of teachers respectively have the strongest correlation and are the best predictors when it comes to school performance.

The deepening dissatisfaction with traditional public schools has inspired changes in the educational system. In less than a decade charter schools have gone from nonexistent to widespread. Charter schools are different from other reforms because charter schools tend to vary in terms of their performance and population served. Some charter schools are obviously more effective than others in terms of their performance on reading, writing and mathematics state-mandated tests. Therefore, the purpose of this study of the correlates of charter school effectiveness is to measure the strength and direction of their relationships between charter schools performance and their organizational, financial and organizational characteristics. My research concludes that among the demographic, financial and organizational variables selected the attendance rate; the central administration expenses and the total number of teachers respectively have the strongest correlation and are the best predictors when it comes to school performance.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed February 24, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-96).

Thesis (Ed.D)--Boise State University, 2005. / Includes abstracts. Appendix E includes the complete preliminary study and the first three chapters of the dissertation titled: Preliminary study : nine themes of multiliteracies, a literary implementation framework. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online via the ProQuest Digital Dissertations database.

Using data from the DataQuest and Ed-Data databases provided by the California Department of Education (2006-2012), this study assesses if charter schools provide a net benefit to students compared to non-charter schools. Further, it examines if charter management organizations improve the performance of charter schools. I find that charter schools have no net benefit across all grades. However, charter schools get significantly better performance on high school language arts tests. Minority and low-income students perform better at charter schools than traditional public schools, especially at the middle school level. Minorities in middle schools perform even better at CMOs than independent charter schools.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2007. / "May, 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-121). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-179).

Georgia Charter School Act of 1998 intends to increase student achievement through academic and organizational innovations, and increased flexibility granted to charter schools. With the legislative intent in mind, the primary purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which student achievement in elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools differ across the Georgia start-up charter schools and charter system schools as measured by the achievement, progress, and achievement gap scores of 2014 Georgia’s College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). The data set, which is publicly available on the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement website and Georgia Department of Education (GADOE) website, includes 87 start-up charter schools and 265 charter system schools in operation during the school year 2013-14 as reported by the GADOE Office of District Flexibility and Governmental Affairs. Informed by the legislative intent for the Georgia charter school law, the review of the literature conducted for this study examined innovations and increased autonomy in charter schools followed by the student achievement studies involving charter schools across the nation. The method of Factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed to analyze the data, following the selection of the sample through propensity score matching procedure. The Factorial ANOVA procedure revealed no significant differences between the mean scores for charter system schools and start-up charter schools as far as the achievement, progress, and achievement gap components of the 2014 CCRPI are concerned. This result led to the conclusion that start-up charter schools and charter system schools fulfill their legislative obligation of increasing student achievement to a similar extent. This study contributes to the policy and political dialog surrounding charter schools. Results from the analysis will: (a) reveal which type of charter school fulfills statutory obligations of increasing student achievement more effectively, (b) inform legislators in adopting new laws or revising current laws regarding school choice options, (c) help leaders of charter systems decide whether to introduce or expand start-up charter school offerings in their district portfolios, and (d) help parents choose the best school option among those available.