Archived Information

Appendix C: Overview of Telephone Survey Response Patterns

A follow-up survey was administered to these survey respondents one year after their initial survey response. Responses were received from 182 of the original 225 (81 percent) responding charter schools.

A third telephone survey was administered in the spring of 1997 to 179 charter schools that began operation after January 1997; 153 schools responded.

We estimate that up until the 1996-97 school year 433 charter schools were opened, five of which subsequently closed. Two schools closed prior to the period of our data collection. Three additional schools closed between the 1995-96 and 1996-97 school years (the period of our data collection for purposes of this report) making a total of 428 operational charter schools. Of these 428 schools, 383 schools responded to the surveys as of the 1996-97 school year. Two of the three schools that closed between the 1995-96 and 1996-97 school years responded to the surveys; these two schools were excluded from analyses discussed in this report. The resulting sample includes 381 charter schools.

This report discusses trends regarding charter schools and their students that have become evident over two years of the study. In other words, we have pooled data from our three telephone surveys and throughout this report focus our discussion primarily on results from this pooled sample. In most cases, we utilize the most up-to-date information from each charter school, generally from the 1996-97 school year. Although the pooled sample includes 381 schools, the total number of charter schools used in the figures and tables in this report varies somewhat because some schools did not answer several questions on the surveys.

EXHIBIT C-1

ESTIMATED SCHOOL ENROLLMENT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS (1996-97)^[1] AND ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE SIXTEEN CHARTER STATES (1994-95)^[2] BY STATE

State	% of schools that have the following enrollment sizes				# of schools
		<200 Students	200-599 Students	600 + Students
California	charter	41.8%	25.5%	32.7%	110
	state	13.8%	38.1%	48.1%	7,821
Arizona	charter	69.9%	25.8%	4.3%	93
	state	14.6%	35.0%	50.4%	1,100
Michigan	charter	77.1%	21.4%	1.4%	70
	state	13.6%	64.7%	21.7%	3,426
Colorado	charter	54.8%	38.7%	6.5%	31
	state	23.8%	52.9%	23.2%	1,407
Minnesota	charter	84.2%	15.8%	0.0%	19
	state	32.3%	40.8%	26.9%	1,906
Massachusetts	charter	63.6%	27.3%	9.1%	22
	state	10.6%	62.8%	26.6%	1,800
Texas	charter	75.0%	25.0%	0.0%	16
	state	17.5%	44.1%	38.4%	6,477
Georgia	charter	0.0%	25.0%	75.0%	12
	state	2.7%	41.8%	55.5%	1,766
Wisconsin	charter	90.9%	9.1%	0.0%	11
	state	22.1%	60.0%	17.9%	2,030
Florida	charter	100.0%	0.0%	0.0%	5
	state	14.3%	21.4%	64.3%	2,726
New Mexico	charter	20.0%	20.0%	60.0%	5
	state	27.5%	49.9%	22.6%	712
Louisiana	charter	100.0%	0.0%	0.0%	3
	state	9.5%	56.5%	34.0%	1,459
Alaska	charter	100.0%	0.0%	0.0%	2
	state	58.8%	29.9%	11.3%	478
Delaware	charter	50.0%	50.0%	0.0%	2
	state	16.5%	41.2%	42.3%	182
District of Columbia	charter	100.0%	0.0%	0.0%	2
	state	9.2%	73.6%	17.2%	174
Hawaii	charter	0.0%	100.0%	0.0%	2
	state	5.4%	40.5%	54.1%	242
Total	charter	61.3%	24.6%	14.0%	406
	state	16.4%	45.2%	38.3%	33,706

1 The data for this figure represent estimates using the telephone sample of 381 charter schools plus data gathered from other sources as described in an earlier footnote. The number of charter schools represented by these data is 406, which is 95 percent of the total number of operational charter schools in the 16 charter states. (We were unable to obtain estimated enrollment figures for 22 charter schools.) The triple line break between Wisconsin and Florida indicates that the states below the triple have so few charter schools that the percentages may not be meaningful. Illinois was not included in this state-by-state breakdown because the one charter school did not respond to our telephone survey.

2 Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data Survey, 1994-95. We use the CCD data here rather than data from the Digest of Education Statistics because the enrollment distribution is based on school-by-school enrollment figures; the Digest provided only overall enrollment figures for each state.

EXHIBIT C-2

ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF CHARTER SCHOOLS BY GRADE LEVEL AND YEAR OF SCHOOL OPENING (1996-97)^[1]

1 This figure relies on data from 381 open charter schools. Grade levels are defined as follows: Primary includes only grades K-3; Elementary includes any of grades K-3 and any of grades 4-6; Middle includes any of grades 5-8 and no grades K-4 or 9-12; K-8 includes any of grades K-1 and any of grades 4-6 and any of grades 7-8 and no grades 9-12; Middle-High includes any of grades 6-8 and any of grades 9-12 and no grades K-5; High includes any of grades 9-12 and no grades K-8; K-12 includes any of grades K-3 and any of grades 4-6 and any of grades 7-8 and any of grades 9-12; Other includes all other grade-level breakdowns; Ungraded indicates no grade levels used at the school.

EXHIBIT C-3

ESTIMATED SCHOOL SIZE AND GRADE LEVELS FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS (1996-97)^[1] AND ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE SIXTEEN CHARTER STATES (1994-95)^[2]

A. Percentage of Charter Schools by Grade Levels (Read Percentage Across Row)

Charter schools	School Size			# of schools
	<200 Students	200-599 Students	600 + Students
Primary	91.7%	4.2%	4.2%	24
Elementary	51.5%	28.3%	20.2%	99
Middle	76.5%	5.9%	17.6%	34
K-8	64.1%	29.7%	6.3%	64
Middle-high	65.8%	21.1%	13.2%	38
High	68.9%	23.0%	8.2%	61
K-12	46.2%	41.0%	12.8%	39
Other	69.2%	30.8%	0.0%	13
Ungraded	87.5%	12.5%	0.0%	8
All charter schools	63.4%	25.0%	11.6%	380

B. Percentage of All Public Schools in the Sixteen Charter States (Read Percentage Across Row)

All public schools	School size			# of schools
	<200 Students	200-599 Students	600 + Students
Primary	30.1%	55.9%	14.0%	1868
Elementary	7.1%	57.4%	35.4%	16478
Middle	8.6%	33.8%	57.6%	4823
K-8	30.0%	42.7%	27.3%	1466
Middle-high	39.1%	29.8%	31.1%	2019
High	24.3%	22.5%	53.1%	5100
K-12	52.2%	32.3%	15.6%	1002
Other	29.3%	51.5%	19.2%	714
Ungraded	78.8%	17.4%	3.8%	236
All public schools	16.4%	45.2%	38.3%	33,706

1 This figure relies on data from 380 charter schools. One charter school was excluded from the analysis because of missing enrollment information.

2 Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data Survey, 1994-95. This figure relies on data from all operational public schools in the 16 charter states which reported student enrollment.

EXHIBIT C-4

ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF NEWLY CREATED OR PRE-EXISTING CHARTER SCHOOLS BY GRADE LEVEL (1996-97)

A. Percentage of Charter Schools by Grade Level and Newly Created or Pre-Existing (Read Percentage Across Row)

	Newly Created	Pre-existing Public	Pre-existing Private	Total
Primary	58.3%	12.5%	29.2%	6.3%
Elementary	52.5%	32.3%	15.2%	26.0%
K-8	68.8%	17.2%	14.1%	16.8%
Middle	70.6%	29.4%	0.0%	8.9%
Middle-high	63.2%	18.4%	18.4%	10.0%
High	57.4%	36.1%	6.6%	16.0%
K-12	70.0%	17.5%	12.5%	10.5%
Other	76.9%	0.0%	23.1%	3.4%
Ungraded	75.0%	12.5%	12.5%	2.1%
# of schools	237	93	51	381

B. Percentage of Charter Schools by Newly Created or Pre-Existing and Grade Level (Read Percentage Down Column)

	Newly Created	Pre-existing Public	Pre-existing Private	Total
Primary	5.9%	3.2%	13.7%	6.3%
Elementary	21.9%	34.4%	29.4%	26.0%
K-8	18.6%	11.8%	17.6%	16.8%
Middle	10.1%	10.8%	0.0%	8.9%
Middle-high	10.1%	7.5%	13.7%	10.0%
High	14.8%	23.7%	7.8%	16.0%
K-12	11.8%	7.5%	9.8%	10.5%
Other	4.2%	0.0%	5.9%	3.4%
Ungraded	2.5%	1.1%	2.0%	2.1%
# of schools	237	93	51	381

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[Appendix B: State Legislative Overview]

[Appendix D: Supplemental Exhibits for Chapter IV]