A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n
The State of Charter Schools 2000 - Fourth-Year Report, January 2000
Charter laws afford charter schools increased autonomy and require accountability measures. Charter schools report about the school's progress toward its goals to a variety of key constituent groups. Reporting requirements differ by state and by individual charter school. Nearly every charter school in a selected sample reported or planned to report on the school's progress toward its goals to its charter granting agency, school governing board, and parents in the 1998-99 school year.
- In 1998-99, the majority of charter schools open for at least 1 year at the time of our survey said they made or were planning to make a report on the school's progress toward its goals to key constituent groups: the school's governing board (96 percent), their chartering agency (92 percent), and parents (89 percent).
- Nearly all charter schools (99 percent) made or were planning to make a report to at least one of the key constituency groups and 81 percent of charter schools made or were planning to make a report to all three key constituent groups.
- The pattern of reporting progress toward goals to other key constituents varied across states. For example, in New Jersey, no charter schools made or planned to make a report to the community or general public, while in Louisiana, all the charter schools made or planned to make a report to this group. The range for states with charter schools that reported or planned to report to private funders was between 7 and 60 percent.
- State Departments of Education represent a key reporting agency in some states' charter laws. In every state except California, at least two-thirds of schools had made a report or planned to make a report to the State Department of Education. Every charter school in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania made a report or planned to make a report to the State Department of Education. At least 80 percent of schools in Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Texas made or planned to make a report to their State Department of Education.
- More than 40 percent of charter schools made or were planning to make a report to all five key constituent groups (chartering agency, parents, community/general public, school governing board, and State Department of Education), not including private funders. At least three-quarters of schools in Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, and Louisiana made a report or planned to make a report to the five key constituent groups. At least one-half of charter schools in Alaska, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin made or were planning to make a report to these five key groups.
Estimated Percentage of a Selected Sample of Schools Reporting Progress Toward Goals to Their Reporting Agencies
NOTE: This question appeared only on the 1998 and 1999 follow-up surveys, resulting in responses from 534 open charter schools, referred to in the text and tables as a selected sample. The results reflect the most recent school responses, equaling 488 charter schools that responded to the 1999 follow-up survey and 46 charter schools that responded to the 1998 but not the 1999 follow-up survey. On the facing page, the percentages in the table show the number of schools that reported or plan to report progress in each area divided by the total number of schools in each state that responded to the 1998 or 1999 follow-up survey. The number of schools in the last column reflects the number of schools that responded to the 1998 or 1999 follow-up survey, not necessarily the total number of schools in that state. Of the 534, 9 schools in 6 states (District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania) are not displayed in the table because each state has 3 or fewer schools that provided information about external accountability and reporting and the percentages are not meaningful. The "Total" row includes data from all 27 of the charter states.
Percentage of a Selected Sample of Charter Schools That Made a Report or were
Planning to Make a Report by Reporting Agency
Percentage of a Selected Sample of Charter Schools That Have Report or Plan to Report on School Goals by State
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