Charter Schools and Urban Education Reform

• In Event: Policy and Reform Issues in Urban Education

Abstract

The author offers an exploration of the history, current situation and future prospects of charter schools in US urban centers. She begins by looking at the growth (Gross, Bowen, & Martin, 2011; Lake & Gross, 2012) and demographics (Aud et al., 2012; Frankenberg et al., 2010) of charters since their inception in the late 1990s.

The author then discusses the original purpose and goals of charter schools, a point that she comes back to in assessing the progress of these institutions. The original goals were: (1) to provide more schooling options for low-income families, (2) to invite middle-income and affluent families into urban settings, (3) to provide nontraditional learning spaces for all children, and (4) to host laboratories for good practice.

The author then looks at state studies (Hanushek, Kain, Rivkin, & Branch, 2007; Ballou, Teasley, & Zeidner, 2008) and comprehensive studies (Zimmer, Gill, Booker, Lavertu, Sass, and Witte, 2009; CREDO, 2009) of charter schools and concludes that the results, with regard to the success of these institutions--considering the original purpose and goals--are mixed.

References

Aud, S., Hussar, W., Johnson, F., Kena, G., Roth, E., Manning, E., Wang, X., & Zhang, J. (2012). The condition of education 2012 (NCES 2012–045). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch

Ballou, D., Teasley, B., & Zeidner, T. (2008). Charter schools in Idaho. In M. Berends, M. G. Springer, & H. J. Walberg (Eds.), Charter school outcomes (pp. 228–241). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

CREDO. (Center for Research on Education Outcomes). (2009). Multiple choice: Charter school performance in 16 states. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Frankenberg, E., Siegel-Hawley, G., & Wang, J. (2010). Choice without equity: Charter school segregation and the need for civil rights standards. Los Angeles, CA: The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA; www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu

Gross, B., Bowen, M. Martin, K. (2012) Accessing the charter school landscape. R. Lake, and B. Gross, (Eds). Hopes, Fears, & Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools in 2011. National Charter School Resource Center. Seattle, WA: National Charter School Resource Center. Seattle, WA: Retrieved from http://www.ncsrp.org/downloads/hfr06/hfrdec1_web.pdf
pp. 9-22.

Hanushek, E., Kain, J. F., Rivkin, S. G., and Branch, G. F. (2007). Charter school quality and parental decision making with school choice. Journal of Public Economics, 91, 823–848.

Lake, R. J., & Gross, B. Eds. (2012). Hopes, fears, and reality: A balanced look at American charter schools in 2011. Seattle, WA: National Charter School Resource Center. Retrieved from http://www.ncsrp.org/downloads/hfr06/hfrdec1_web.pdf

Zimmer, R., & Buddin, R. (2007). Getting inside the black box: Examining how the operation of charter schools affects performance. Peabody Journal of Education 82(2/3), 231–273.

Author

• Thandeka K. Chapman, University of California - San Diego