An Analysis of Milwaukee Public Charter Schools: Differences in Achievement, Behavior, and Attendance

• In Event: Charter School Challenges: Serving Diverse Students Through Appropriate Intervention

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of charter schools in the Milwaukee Public Schools. The primary goals of this project were to isolate differences between the outcomes of charter and non-charters and between charters as a function of their governance structures. Across the 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009 school years, using Hierarchical Linear Modeling, few statistically significant differences in achievement, behavior, and attendance were found. Taken together, the results suggest that little variance was attributable to the mean effects of school type. Much greater variance was explained by the specific schools students attended, regardless of the type of school. The implications of these findings on school research are discussed.

Authors

• Curtis Jones, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Robert H. Meyer, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Hiren Dhiraj Nisar, Abt Associates Inc.