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The Idea of the Charter: One Community's Perspectives on the Shifting Nature of Public EducationSenechal, Jesse 14 April 2014 (has links)
This study considers the contested meaning of public education through a qualitative investigation of Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, a charter elementary school in Richmond, Virginia. The central research question that guides this study is “How do parents construct the idea of public schools as they explain their choice of Patrick Henry Charter School?” To answer this question I conducted a constructivist inquiry that involved a series of 16 semi-structured interviews with a maximum variation sample of Patrick Henry parents concerning their ideas about the school and about public education. The analysis of these interviews led to a grounded theory of the parents’ ideas as well as a case report constructed from the categorized units of data that explores the core themes of the theory. This study also addresses two sub-questions: (1) “How do the parents’ ideas about public schools reflect the logics embedded in the larger policy discourses concerning charters and the reinvention of public education?” and (2) “How do the parents’ ideas about public schools reflect the local public discourse around the public-ness of the school?” To answer the first sub-question I use my review of literature to develop an understanding of the reform debates around charter schools and their relationship to the contested ideas of public education. To answer sub question two, I present an adapted constructivist qualitative analysis of the public discourse that surrounded the school from April 2007 – when the idea of the school was first proposed at a school board meeting – until December 2011 – a year and a half after the school opened its doors. To capture the public discourse I collected and analyzed articles, editorials and letters from six local print publications (newspapers, weekly magazines) as well as the public comment portion of the minutes from Richmond School Board meetings. This analysis resulted in the construction of two competing narratives about the school, the juxtaposition of which shed light on the how idea of public-ness was constructed in the public discourse.
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The constitutionality of religion-based charter schools: answering practical legal questionsWeinberg, Lawrence D. January 2004 (has links)
Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study explores the constitutionality of religion-based charter schools. The method of analysis used hypothetical charter schools to answer legal questions. The answers are grounded in law using the latest precedent.
The background material before examining charters sets forth both the legal and policy contexts of religious charters schools. The legal context includes a detailed analysis of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution focusing on the most recent Supreme Court cases on that topic. The policy analysis examines the normative and structural dimensions of charter schools, which are then compared with voucher programs. The historical, political and educational contexts of charter programs are also examined.
Three hypothetical situations examine a total of eighteen legal questions:
Can coreligionists form a charter school?
Can morality-based general propositions of good be taught in a charter
school?
Can a charter school teach values espoused by coreligionists?
Can a charter school teach a course in the relationship between religion and
morality?
Can a charter school have religious criteria for staff?
Can a charter school limit a teacher's right to express different
worldviews?
Can a charter school offer optional prayer?
Can a charter school form for the purpose of allowing students' ease of
access to religious education?
Can a charter school form to provide students, who would otherwise attend
parochial schools, with a free, secular public education?
Can clergy sit on the board of a charter school?
Can a charter school share facilities with a parochial school?
Can a religious organization operate a charter school?
Can a charter school have religious criteria for admission?
To what extent can a religion class be taught in a charter school?
Can a charter school require religious instruction?
Can a charter school require religious exercises or worship?
Can a charter school affiliate with a denomination?
Can states exclude religious organizations from operating charter schools?
Each question is analyzed from a legal perspective.
The study concludes that charter statutes present an opportunity for parents and communities to form charter schools that will accommodate their beliefs; however, the constitution does not allow them to form schools that endorse their beliefs. / 2031-01-01
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An examination of an educational innovation opinion leadership in charter school adoption /Willey, Betty Jo. January 2006 (has links)
Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Wyoming, 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 21, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-112).
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Differences in achievement and demographics between Idaho charter schools and their most closely matched constituent traditional public schools /Kellerer, Paula D. January 1900 (has links)
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Idaho, 2006. / Abstract. "May, 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-83). Also available online in PDF format.
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Public school responses to charter school presenceErtas, Nevbahar 02 July 2007 (has links)
As charter schools continue to proliferate across United States, their impact on the public education system is becoming an increasingly important public policy question. Charter school proponents argue that combined pressures of consumer choice and market competition will induce traditional public schools to respond by providing higher quality education and promoting innovation and equity. Skeptics worry that charter schools pose risks of segregating students by race and economic level, and reducing per-pupil resources available to traditional public schools. This dissertation provides a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of charter schools on regular public schools by addressing the following questions: 1) How do the charter schools affect the racial, ethnic and cosio-economic distribution, student-teacher ratios and achievement of traditional public schools? 2) How do the size and scope of competitive effects vary according to different measures of competition?
Using two-period panel data from the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core Data (CCD) for traditional public schools in Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Ohio, I compare changes in racial and ethnic distribution, student-teacher ratios and achievement in public schools that do and do not face competition. I use a variation of the difference-in-differences (DD) estimation strategy to study the effect of charter schools on the outcome measures. The findings from the study suggest that introduction of charter schools in the educational landscape has affected student distributions, and at least in some cases, student-teacher ratios and the performance of traditional public schools. Charter schools seem to contribute to declines in the share of non-Hispanic white students in traditional public schools in all four states. The results show variation in other outcome areas across states and competition measures. The findings highlight the importance of monitoring what will happen to non-choosers in traditional schools as well as the role of considering state context and empirical measures while generalizing from charter school studies.
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The impact of charter schools in TexasBooker, Toby Kevin 02 June 2009 (has links)
This dissertation examines the effects of charter schools in Texas, using data from the
Texas Education Agency for 190 charter schools and over 60,000 charter students. In Chapter II
we examine charter effect test score gains for charter students. After controlling for individual
student characteristics, we find that students in their first year in a charter school have large
negative test score gains compared to when they were in traditional public school, and that
charter schools that have been in operation for more than one year have higher average test score
gains than new charter schools. Charter schools appear to have the most positive effects on
African-American students. We find that the overall effect of being in a charter school for
multiple years is that students have slightly lower average test score growth than when they were
in a traditional public school.
In Chapter III we examine the effect of charters on test score gains for students attending
nearby traditional public schools. After controlling for campus and student characteristics, we
find traditional public school districts and campuses that face greater competition from charter
schools have higher average test score gains than other traditional public schools. This positive
effect of charter competition is strongest for African-American and Hispanic students, and is
focused entirely on students attending traditional public campuses in the bottom 50% of the
initial campus average achievement distribution.
In Chapter IV we examine the charter effect on the distribution of students by ability and
race/ethnicity, as well as examining what factors are associated with a student choosing to move to a charter school. We find that students who move to charter schools tend to move to schools
with a higher percentage of students of their same race/ethnicity, and that this gap is largest for
African-American students. We also find that average math and reading test scores are lower
than the statewide average at the traditional public schools that charter students leave, and that
charter schools are attracting, on average, the lower-performing students from these lowperforming
schools.
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From the factory model to the market model : charter schools and the changing landscape of American education /Powers, Jeanne Marie. January 2002 (has links)
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 354-367).
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A comparative study of parent involvement in Pennsylvania elementary charter schools and traditional public schools /Karanxha, Zorka, January 2003 (has links)
Thesis (Ed. D.)--Lehigh University, 2004. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 189-201).
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The politics of charter school authorizing : the case of New York StateChartock, Jonas S. 25 July 2012 (has links)
Drawing on interview data from charter school policy actors in New York State, this study applied Kingdon’s (1984, 1995/2002) multiple streams model to explain how the system of multiple statewide charter authorizers was created as part of the New York State Charter Schools Act of 1998. A combination of factors influenced the emergence of the law and resulted in an authorizing system that included an effective set of policy entrepreneurs, a strong executive, and a key political opportunity. Ultimately Governor Pataki promoted charter school policy to high agenda prominence by deciding to use the issue as his desired policy in exchange for a legislative pay raise (agenda setting). The findings of the study suggest that the applicability of Kingdon’s national-level model to the state level is valid and features a strong participation of the state executive branch. / text
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An Investigation of Parents' Perceptions Regarding the Efficacy of Traditional Private, and Charter School Delivery ModelsReynolds, Keith L 18 May 2015 (has links)
The purpose of this research study was to capture, document and examine parents’ perceptions regarding their descriptions of the statements, “best education possible” and “school choice” in regards to the traditional and the nontraditional models for public schooling. Additionally, for this research study, traditional public schools are defined as the regular public school that serves grades P-12 with no restrictions for parents’ choice in enrollment of their child/children. Nontraditional public schools are defined as any school, public and/or private, that functions outside the boundaries of the traditional public school systems’ supervision. This body of work reflects the perspectives of 30 parents who provided their perceptions toward their personal experiences as they negotiated specific outcomes for their child’s/children’s educational achievements. By providing substantive information in the form of a satisfaction survey and personal interviews, their voices are now captured within a body of work that gives meaning to their experiences as they have described them in this research study.
Through the research process, this researcher brought forward a wealth of qualitative data that were supported by a limited level of quantitative data. The findings revealed that an overwhelming majority of the parents who were surveyed where satisfied with their educational outcomes. The parents who participated in this research study provided the answers for why, and/or how these perceptions were formed, materialized, achieved, and/or sustained. As a result of the findings from this research study, a grounded theory was formed. The grounded theory reads as follows:
Parents who have a minimum of a high school diploma, and/or greater and who are single and/or married with an income no less than $31,000 can achieve a satisfactory outcome as well as the best education possible for their child/children in the traditional and/or nontraditional model of schooling, where he/she is actively engaged in his/her child/children educational matriculation.
Because this study was overwhelmingly represented by African-American adults, a similar study should be conducted with primarily European-American adults, and/or other racial groups that may include Asian-Americans and/or Latino-American adults. Race was cited as a factor within the review of related literature with regards to educational outcomes as well as the disparaging gap for educational advancement found among the racial groups. As a result, given all other factors are the same, the grounded theory produced from this research study could be further validated across racial lines.
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