Archived Information

Executive Summary

This Fourth-Year Report of the National Study of Charter Schools provides descriptive information on charter schools that were operating in the 1998-99 school year. Additional reports of the National Study address broad policy issues concerning the charter school movement and its potential effects on America's system of public education.

Growth Trends: The number of states with charter legislation and the number of charter schools continued to expand in 1999.

• During the 1999 legislative session, three states-- New York, Oklahoma, and Oregon--passed charter legislation, bringing the total number of jurisdictions with charter laws to 36 states and the District of Columbia¹. Charter laws have not remained static. Several states amended their charter laws during the 1999 legislative session. One state increased the number of charters that can be granted; two states that previously only allowed pre-existing public schools authorized newly created charter schools; two states expanded the number of agencies allowed to grant charters; and several states adjusted their charter school financing mechanisms.

• Of the 36 states and the District of Columbia with charter laws, 30 states and the District of Columbia had operational charter schools as of September 1999. Three of the 31 jurisdictions first opened charter schools in September 1999. Twenty-eight jurisdictions had operational charter schools at the time of our Spring 1999 survey. Nevada had only one operational charter school in Spring 1999 and that school did not respond to the survey, therefore, the school-level data reported here rely on responses from schools in 27 states.

• An additional 421 charter schools opened in 1999, bringing the total to 1,484 charter schools in operation in 31 states and the District of Columbia as of September 1999. Including multiple branches of a school operating under the same charter, the total number of charter school sites operating was 1,605 as of September 1999

• The demand for charter schools remains high--7 of 10 charter schools reported that they have a waiting list. This percentage is the same as reported for 1997-98.

• Twenty-seven charter schools closed during the 1998-99 school year. Since the first charter school opened in 1992, a total of 59 charter schools--nearly 4 percent of all charter schools that have ever opened--have closed.

• The number of students in charter schools increased in the 1998-99 school year by nearly 90,000, bringing the total to more than 250,000 students. This total represents 0.8 percent of all public school students in the 27 states with open charter schools as of the 1998-99 school year.

• Most charter schools are small schools--the median enrollment in all charter school sites is 137 students per school, whereas all public schools in the charter states had a median enrollment of about 475 students. This is similar to the median charter school size of 132 reported for 1998-99.

• Nearly half of the charter schools have a grade configuration that deviates from the traditional elementary, middle, high school configuration. In 1998-99, one-quarter of the charter schools spanned K­8, K­12, or were ungraded compared to less than one-tenth of all public schools.

• Seven of 10 charter schools are newly created schools. Schools that opened in the 1998-99 school year continued the trend from previous years that most schools opening in the year were newly created. Newly created charter schools, with a median enrollment of 128 students, are smaller, on average, than converted pre-existing public schools.

• Eleven of the 36 states with charter laws allow private schools to convert to charter schools. The District of Columbia also allows private schools to convert to charter status. Ten percent of all charter schools were private schools prior to their conversion to charter status.

• The median student to teacher ratio for charter schools, 16 students per teacher, was slightly lower than the ratio for all public schools--17.2.

• About two-thirds of charter schools had a student to computer ratio of fewer than 10 students per computer. About two-thirds of all schools with computers used for instruction had computers in 75 percent of their classrooms.

• White students made up about 48 percent of charter school enrollment in 1998 compared to about 59 percent of public school enrollment in 1997-98. The percentage of white students in charter schools is slightly lower than reported in 1997-98

• Charter schools in several states--Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Texas--enroll a much higher percentage of students of color than all public schools in those states. Charter schools in Alaska, California, and Georgia serve a higher proportion of white students than do all public schools in those states.

• Nearly 7 of 10 charter schools have a student racial/ethnic composition that is similar to their surrounding district. About 17 percent of charter schools serve a higher percentage of students of color than their surrounding district while about 14 percent have a lower percentage of students of color.

• Charter schools enroll a slightly higher percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch than do all public schools in the 27 charter states.

• The estimated percentage of limited English proficient (LEP) students in charter schools is about 10 percent, which is about the same as for all public schools in the 27 charter states. The percentage of LEP students is about the same as reported for 1997-98.

• Without regard to differences across states, the reported percentage of students with disabilities at charter schools is about 8 percent, which is lower than the 11 percent for all public schools in these states.

• Nearly two-thirds of newly created charter schools seek to realize an alternative vision of schooling, and an additional one-quarter of newly created schools were founded primarily to serve a special target population of students. More than one-third of pre-existing public schools report that they converted to charter status in order to gain autonomy from district and state regulations.

• Nearly 4 of 10 charter schools that were previously private schools converted to charter status to realize an alternative vision of education.

• Most charter schools continue to cite resource limitations--either lack of start-up funds or inadequate operating funds--as serious challenges to their implementation.

• Newly created charter schools were more likely to cite resource limitations as a major difficulty than pre-existing charter schools.

• A much lower percentage of charter schools that first opened in the 1998-99 school year report that start up funding was a major difficulty. For schools that opened in 1998-99 school year, 39 percent cited start up funds as a limitation, down from 59 percent for schools that opened in 1997-98 school year. The reduction is likely to reflect support from the federal charter school start up funding program.

• About 4 of 10 charter schools that were pre-existing public schools reported that state or local board opposition or regulations presented obstacles to their school's implementation. About 1 in 5 schools that were formerly public indicated that they had difficulty with teacher unions or collective bargaining agreements. Fewer than 1 of 20 charter schools reported implementation difficulty due to federal regulations.

• The majority of charter schools reported they had primary control over most areas critical to school operations, including purchasing, hiring, scheduling, and curriculum. Slightly fewer charter schools reported that they had control over student admissions, student assessment, and budget. Compared to newly created charter schools, a lower proportion of pre-existing public schools said they had primary control in every category of control.

• Most charter schools provide one or more non-instructional services (e.g., health services, social services, and before and after school care). Newly created charter schools that provided services were about equally likely to provide the services themselves or to make arrangements for an outside provider. In contrast, about 6 of 10 pre-existing charter schools rely on districts to provide services. Pre-existing private schools were equally likely to provide services themselves and use an outside provider.

• More than 9 of 10 charter schools were monitored for accountability in terms of school finances; nearly 9 of 10 for student achievement and for compliance with regulations; more than 8 of 10 for student attendance; and more than 6 of 10 for instructional practices. Each of these represent an increase in the percentage of schools reporting monitoring in these areas in 1996­97.

• The 27 charter states differ greatly in how they approach accountability, with some following a "centralized" state agency approach, others a "market- driven" approach, and still others a "district-based" approach that relies on local accountability within a framework of state testing.

• More than 70 percent of charter schools (based on a selected sample of schools) said they made reports during the 1997-98 school year for accountability purposes to one or more constituencies, including their chartering agency, school governing board, state department of education, parents, the community, or private funders.

• More than 9 of 10 charter schools used student achievement tests, augmented by other measures of school performance, including standardized tests and other measures of student achievement, parent and student surveys, and behavioral indicators.

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Acknowledgments

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