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A National of Charter Schools - July 1998

Appendix D: Supplemental Exhibits for Chapter IV

This Appendix presents exhibits on racial concentration (Exhibits D-1 and D-2) as well as on state-by-state statistics that compare charter schools to all public schools on enrollment and racial distributions (Exhibits D-3 -- D-5).

Racial Concentration and School Size. The text in Chapter IV conjectures that there might be a relationship between racial concentration and school size. This issue may be important in the charter school context because there is a higher proportion of small charter schools than other public schools. Exhibits D-1 and D-2 provide data to examine this conjecture.

Chapter IV divides the distribution of the school percentages of White students into three categories of racial concentration: predominantly non-White (the percentage of schools that have less than one-third White students), diverse (between one-third and two-thirds White students), and predominantly White (two-thirds or more White students). Exhibit D-1 shows that:

  1. Most charter schools serve either predominantly White students (51 percent) or predominately students of color (28 percent, see Table b, column 5, rows 1 and 3), as reported earlier.

  2. Most charter schools are small (64 percent enroll fewer than 200 students, see table (c) column 2, row 5), as reported earlier.

  3. Smaller charter schools (those with fewer than 600 students) are more likely to serve predominantly White students than are larger charter schools (about one out of two of all charter schools are smaller charter schools that serve predominantly White students, see Table b, columns 2-3. row 4).

Exhibit D-2 represents comparable calculations for all public schools in the 16-state base. The data in both exhibits taken together suggest that:

  1. At a broad level, the racial concentration is about the same for charter schools as for all public schools, as reported earlier (see Table b, column 5 in both tables).

  2. Charter schools have a much higher percentage of small schools than all public schools (64 percent compared to 17 percent, see Table c, row 5, column 2 in both tables).

  3. The size of the school does not have a strong effect on racial concentration, except that larger schools are more likely to serve non-White students for both charter and public schools.

Together these data suggest that charter schools have racial concentration patterns similar to all public schools, except that charter schools tend to have a higher proportion of smaller schools more focused on serving students of color.

EXHIBIT D-1

ESTIMATED SIZE VERSUS RACIAL CONCENTRATION FOR ALL CHARTER SCHOOLS IN THE SIXTEEN CHARTER STATES (1996-97)[1]

A. Percentage of All Charter Schools in Sample

Proportion of White Students

<200 students

200-599 students

600+ students

# schools

0-1/3

17.4%

 6.8%

3.5%

102

1/3-2/3

11.7%

 5.4%

3.8%

 77

2/3-1

34.5%

12.8%

4.1%

189

# schools

234

92

42

368

B. Percentage of School Size (Read Percentage Down Column)

Proportion of White Students

<200 students

200-599 students

600+ students

$ all schools

0-1/3

27.4%

27.2%

31.0%

27.7%

1/3-2/3

18.4%

21.7%

33.3%

20.9%

2/3-1

54.3%

51.1%

35.7%

51.4%

C. Percentage of Proportion of White Students (Read Percentage Across Row)

Proportion of White Students

<200 students

200-599 students

600+ students

0-1/3

62.7%

24.5%

12.7%

1/3-2/3

55.8%

26.0%

18.2%

2/3-1

67.2%

24.9%

 7.9%

% all schools

63.6%

25.0%

11.4%

1 The number of responding charter schools includes 368 open charter schools with valid racial and enrollment data.

EXHIBIT D-2

SIZE VERSUS RACIAL CONCENTRATION FOR ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN SIXTEEN CHARTER STATES (1994-95)[1]

A. PERCENTAGE OF ALL CHARTER SCHOOLS IN SAMPLE

Proportion of White Students

<200 students

200-599 students

600+ students

# schools

0-1/3

3.4%

10.0%

11.5%

 8332

1/3-2/3

11.6%

10.1%

10.0%

 7951

2/3-1

9.5%

25.2%

16.7%

17243

# schools

5528

15186

12811

33526

B. Percentage of School Size (Read Percentage Down Column)

Proportion of White Students

<200 students

200-599 students

600+ students

$ all schools

0-1/3

20.6%

22.0%

30.1%

24.9%

1/3-2/3

22.0%

22.3%

26.1%

23.7%

2/3-1

57.4%

55.7%

43.8%

51.4%

C. Percentage of Proportion of White Students (Read Percentage Across Row)

Proportion of White Students

<200 students

200-599 students

600+ students

0-1/3

13.7%

40.1%

46.3%

1/3-2/3

15.3%

42.7%

42.1%

2/3-1

18.4%

49.0%

32.5%

% all schools

16.5%

45.3%

38.2%

1 Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data Survey, 1994-95. For this figure, all public schools refers to open public schools in the sixteen charter states which reported student enrollment and where student enrollment matched the number of students in each of the five census categories.

EXHIBIT D-3

ESTIMATED ENROLLMENT BY RACE FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS (1996-97)[1] AND ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN SIXTEEN CHARTER STATES (1994-95)[2]

State Percentage of enrollment in charter schools and all public schools in the state # of students
White Black Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander American Indian or Alaska Native Other[3]
California charter

47.4%

11.0%

33.2%

6.7%

1.2%

0.5%

41,697

 

state

41.4%

8.7%

37.9%

11.2%

0.9%

NA

5,342,071

Arizona

charter

51.4%

9.1%

17.2%

1.2%

21.1%

0.1%

14,960

 

state

58.4%

4.3%

28.7%

1.7%

7.0%

NA

722,487

Michigan

charter

50.2%

40.2%

3.3%

1.6%

3.7%

1.0%

9,891

 

state

77.4%

17.5%

2.6%

1.5%

1.1%

NA

1,611,324

Colorado

charter

80.5%

5.3%

10.2%

2.5%

1.6%

0.0%

6,342

 

state

73.5%

5.4%

17.6%

2.5%

1.0%

NA

640,503

Minnesota

charter

52.8%

27.6%

2.4%

9.0%

8.1%

0.0%

2,142

 

state

88.1%

4.5%

1.8%

3.7%

1.9%

NA

820,422

Massachusetts

charter

54.7%

23.3%

19.1%

2.4%

0.1%

0.4%

3,921

 

state

79.0%

8.1%

9.0%

3.8%

0.2%

NA

861,178

Texas

charter

18.0%

26.3%

51.9%

2.1%

0.0%

1.7%

2,264

 

state

47.1%

14.4%

36.0%

2.3%

0.2%

NA

3,676,675

Wisconsin

charter

74.3%

18.8%

3.8%

2.6%

0.5%

0.0%

1,043

 

state

83.7%

9.3%

3.1%

2.6%

1.3%

NA

860,686

Georgia

charter

74.6%

19.6%

4.0%

1.3%

0.4%

0.0%

5,880

 

state

59.1%

37.5%

1.8%

1.5%

0.1%

NA

1,270,632

Florida

charter

42.2%

52.0%

0.4%

5.4%

0.0%

0.0%

446

 

state

58.7%

24.9%

14.5%

1.7%

0.2%

NA

2,151,975

New Mexico

charter

45.4%

5.5%

37.2%

4.5%

7.4%

0.0%

3,699

 

state

39.9%

2.4%

46.4%

1.0%

10.4%

NA

324,569

Louisiana

charter

43.1%

53.7%

1.8%

0.0%

1.4%

0.0%

281

 

state

51.5%

45.7%

1.1%

1.3%

0.5%

NA

797,933

Alaska

charter

80.2%

4.4%

4.4%

3.3%

7.7%

0.0%

91

 

state

64.7%

4.8%

2.6%

4.1%

23.8%

NA

126,581

Delaware

charter

61.7%

29.7%

3.4%

5.2%

0.0%

0.0%

290

 

state

65.4%

29.1%

3.6%

1.7%

0.2%

NA

106,813

District of Columbia

charter

0.0%

100.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

174

 

state

4.0%

88.0%

6.6%

1.3%

0.0%

NA

80,450

Hawaii

charter

22.8%

7.2%

9.7%

43.0%

1.1%

16.1%

832

 

state

21.7%

1.8%

4.7%

71.5%

0.3%

NA

89,952

1 The number of responding charter schools includes 368 open charter schools with valid racial data. By valid racial data, we mean schools where the number of students in the racial categories added to the total student enrollment.

2 Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data Survey, 1994-95. For this exhibit, all public schools refers to open public schools in the 16 charter states which reported student enrollment and where student enrollment matched the count of students in each of the five census categories.

3 The National Center for Education Statistics does not report an "other" racial category.

EXHIBIT D-4

COMPARING ALTERNATIVE MEASURES OF RACIAL ENROLLMENT PATTERNS FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS (1996-97)[1] AND ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE SIXTEEN CHARTER STATES (1994-95)

State

% of White students statewide (pooled data)

Average school percentage of White students

% of schools that have >2/3 non-White students

% of schools that have >2/3 White students

California

charter

47.4%

56.5%

28.1%

44.8%

 

state

41.4%

46.4%

36.7%

32.3%

Arizona

charter

51.4%

58.4%

27.3%

56.8%

 

state

58.4%

56.1%

26.1%

46.9%

Michigan

charter

50.2%

54.8%

34.3%

49.3%

 

state

77.4%

79.4%

11.8%

80.1%

Colorado

charter

80.5%

83.5%

0.0%

83.3%

 

state

73.5%

74.3%

7.7%

70.6%

Minnesota

charter

52.8%

52.8%

36.8%

42.1%

 

state

88.1%

85.9%

4.5%

85.6%

Massachusetts

charter

54.7%

69.8%

25.0%

62.5%

 

state

79.0%

80.6%

9.1%

79.3%

Texas

charter

18.0%

17.6%

78.6%

14.3%

 

state

47.1%

50.4%

32.5%

39.1%

Wisconsin

charter

74.3%

78.7%

10.0%

70.0%

 

state

83.7%

87.0%

5.6%

88.4%

Georgia

charter

74.6%

73.1%

0.0%

75.0%

 

state

59.1%

57.5%

24.3%

45.9%

Florida

charter

42.2%

45.3%

40.0%

40.0%

 

state

58.7%

58.6%

20.7%

49.2%

New Mexico

charter

45.4%

47.1%

0.0%

0.0%

 

state

39.9%

38.5%

44.8%

17.6%

Louisiana

charter

43.1%

48.1%

0.0%

0.0%

 

state

51.5%

51.2%

29.5%

37.6%

Alaska

charter

80.2%

80.6%

0.0%

100.0%

 

state

64.7%

47.5%

40.6%

44.4%

Delaware

charter

61.7%

69.4%

0.0%

50.0%

 

state

65.4%

63.4%

2.2%

40.7%

District of Columbia

charter

0.0%

0.0%

100.0%

0.0%

 

state

4.0%

5.3%

93.7%

2.9%

Hawaii

charter

22.8%

26.0%

50.0%

0.0%

 

state

21.7%

22.4%

81.1%

1.6%

1 The number of responding charter schools includes 368 open charter schools with valid racial data.

EXHIBIT D-5

ESTIMATED CONCENTRATION OF STUDENTS BY RACE FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS (1996-97)[1] AND ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE SIXTEEN CHARTER STATES (1994-95)[2]

State

% of schools that have the following proportion of White students

# of schools

<1/3

1/3-2/3

>2/3

California

charter

28.1%

27.1%

44.8%

96

 

state

36.7%

31.0%

32.3%

7,821

Arizona

charter

27.3%

15.9%

56.8%

88

 

state

26.1%

27.0%

46.9%

1,100

Michigan

charter

34.3%

16.4%

49.3%

67

 

state

11.8%

8.1%

80.1%

3,423

Colorado

charter

0.0%

16.7%

83.3%

30

 

state

7.7%

21.6%

70.6%

1,407

Minnesota

charter

36.8%

21.1%

42.1%

19

 

state

4.5%

9.9%

85.6%

1,905

Massachusetts

charter

25.0%

12.5%

62.5%

16

 

state

9.1%

11.6%

79.3%

1,764

Texas

charter

78.6%

7.1%

14.3%

14

 

state

32.5%

28.4%

39.1%

6,477

Wisconsin

charter

10.0%

20.0%

70.0%

10

 

state

5.6%

6.0%

88.4%

2,030

Georgia

charter

0.0%

25.0%

75.0%

8

 

state

24.3%

29.8%

45.9%

1,766

Florida

charter

40.0%

20.0%

40.0%

5

 

state

20.7%

30.1%

49.2%

2,708

New Mexico

charter

0.0%

100.0%

0.0%

4

 

state

44.8%

37.6%

17.6%

710

Louisiana

charter

0.0%

100.0%

0.0%

3

 

state

29.5%

32.8%

37.6%

1,459

Alaska

charter

0.0%

0.0%

100.0%

2

 

state

40.6%

15.1%

44.4%

478

Delaware

charter

0.0%

50.0%

50.0%

2

 

state

2.2%

57.1%

40.7%

182

District of Columbia

charter

100.0%

0.0%

0.0%

2

 

state

93.7%

3.4%

2.9%

174

Hawaii

charter

50.0%

50.0%

0.0%

2

 

state

81.1%

17.2%

1.6%

122

Total

charter

27.7%

20.9%

51.4%

368

 

state

24.9%

23.7%

51.4%

33,526

1 This exhibit draws on data from 368 open charter schools with valid racial data.

2 Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data Survey, 1994-95.
-###-


[Appendix C: Overview of Telephone Survey Response Patterns] [Table of Contents] [Appendix E: Charter Schools and Title I]