Archived Information

The Students

Racial Composition

Exhibit 12--Charter School Enrollment by Race, 1995-96

Even state-by-state data must be interpreted carefully. In order to illuminate the type of conclusion that can--and cannot--be drawn from the data, we will examine the racial percentages for California's population of charter school students compared to the state's total public school enrollment. California accounts for about 60 percent of all charter school students and about 40 percent of all public school students in the ten state base. Specifically, California had approximately 34,000 students in 80 charter schools. Of these students, about 47 percent were white compared to 42 percent in all California public schools; 13 percent of charter school students were African-American compared to 9 percent of all public school students in California. Thirty-two percent of charter school students were Hispanic compared to 37 percent of students in all public schools; eight percent of charter school students were Asian or Pacific Islander compared to 11 percent of students in all public schools; and the percentage of American Indian or Alaskan Native was about one percent for both charter schools and all public schools.

Exhibit 13--Enrollment by Race for Charter Schools, 1995-96 and All Public Schools in the Ten Charter States, 1993-94²⁵

What conclusion might be drawn from this comparison? These figures provide a reasonable basis for broadly assessing the diversity of students in charter schools compared to all public schools, but they should not be used for precise comparisons for several reasons. First, the charter school enrollment data were collected for the 1995-96 school year, while the most recent nationally comparable data were available for the 1993-94 school year. Secondly, even though California had more operational charter schools than other states in 1995-96, the number of charter school students in this as well as the other states is very small compared to student enrollment in all public schools. Given the small numbers, the percentages among the racial categories could change from year to year with only a minor addition to the number of charter schools or with slight alterations in the racial composition of students enrolled in current charter schools. Therefore, allowing for these and other uncertainties in the data,²⁶ we conclude that the percentage of charter school students in various racial categories is similar to the percentage of all public school students in California in each of these categories.

With regard to the other nine states, Wisconsin (with five charter schools), New Mexico (with four), Georgia (with three), and Hawaii (with two) have too few charter schools to make any reasonable comparison to their state totals. Of the five other states, the charter schools in Michigan, Minnesota, and Massachusetts, on average, enroll a higher percentage of students of color than do all public schools in these states. The charter school population of Arizona and Colorado, like California, is similar to the racial composition of the population of students in all public schools in these states.

Comparison of racial concentration of schools. Some charter schools--as well as many public schools--serve students who are predominantly from one racial group. To provide a rough measure of the racial concentration of students in schools, we calculated the percentage of schools that have one-fifth or fewer white students, between one-fifth and four-fifths white students, and four-fifths or more white students. Using this rough measure, Exhibit 14 provides an overview of the racial concentration for charter schools across the ten state base. At least one in five charter schools serve predominantly students of color; about one in three serve a diverse group of white students and students of color, and somewhat less than one in two charter schools serve predominantly white students.

Exhibit 14--Estimated Concentration of Students by Race in Charter Schools, 1995-96

Focusing on the one-fifth of the charter schools that enroll a high proportion of students of color, about one-third serve predominantly African-American students, one quarter serve predominately Hispanic students, and five charter schools serve primarily Native American students.²⁷ The Study selected 42 sites for field visits in the five states that had charter schools which were in operation for at least one year as of the 1995-96 school year, and found that more than half of the charter schools in this sample targeted a specific population of students (e.g., at-risk students, students with special needs, or limited English proficient students).

Two brief examples of charter schools that target a specific student population--one that was newly created and another that was a pre-existing school--may suggest their founders' belief that they could better serve their target population than the standard public system:

• One newly created charter school serves 51 students in grades K-6 who are primarily African-American (95 percent) and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The school, which is located in an urban, residential neighborhood, was created to better address the academic, cultural, and social needs of students who were not performing well in the district schools. Low-income African-American students had chronically high drop-out rates and performed well below students from other racial backgrounds. Key features of this school include smaller class size, an atmosphere of respect for parents' views, and a focus on meeting the diverse needs of students.

• A year-round multi-track elementary school located in a low-income area serves a large Hispanic population--90 percent of the 1150 students in grades pre-K-6 are Hispanic. Nearly every student in this school qualifies for the National School Lunch Program. The founders believed that the large urban district it had been part of was too bureaucratic and did not adequately understand or address the needs of Hispanic children. They felt that converting to charter would give the site control over finances and operations and enable the school to serve its at-risk population more effectively.

Exhibit 15--Estimated Concentration of Students by Race for Charter Schools, 1995-96 and All Public Schools in the Ten Charter States, 1993-94²⁸

The pattern of racial concentration at a school may be a result of the school's location--for example, whether the school is located in a predominantly white area--or it may be the result of deliberate policies that favor or exclude some races or classes of students. We turn to our preliminary fieldwork data to explore this issue.

Preliminary evidence from the field on student selection. Several commentators have expressed the concern that charter schools may become vehicles for creating exclusive, predominantly white schools.²⁹ But broad comparisons of racial composition presented above suggest that if this problem exists among charter schools, it is not widespread. However, this issue cannot be adequately addressed without visiting charter schools to determine their actual student selection and admission policies.

During the first year, the Study could not undertake the complex data collection and analysis that will be required to determine the extent to which charter schools reflect their neighborhoods, their districts (when there is a relevant district), or their local areas.³⁰ During the preliminary visits to 42 sites, fieldworkers were asked to examine whether charter schools that serve predominately white students established discriminatory practices that exclude students of color. Based on our interviews and focus groups, we found no evidence of explicit exclusionary practice. The telephone survey also provided relevant information about this issue. Seventy-four percent of the surveyed charter schools reported that applications for admission exceeded capacity. Of the schools with excess demand, 39 percent reported that the school used a lottery or other random process to allocate admission "slots"; 41 percent used a "first-come-first-served" policy; and ten percent used a combination of lottery and first-come-first-served. Just under ten percent (15 schools) used some "other" process. A number of these schools used referrals from courts or social service agencies to enroll special needs or at-risk students. These data are far from definitive, but they do not point to exclusionary practices.

More research must be done before we can provide adequate information about this complex issue. But first year preliminary research did not find evidence that charter schools engage in discriminatory admissions practices, or that charter schools "cream" or select "desirable" students from the overall student population.³¹
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[Characteristics of Charter Schools]

[The Students (continued)]