The Charter School Office has created the Opening Procedures Handbook as a tool to assist charter school founding groups prepare for the exciting, yet challenging, task of opening a Massachusetts public charter school. The Handbook summarizes the opening procedures process, identifies the action items that must be completed prior to the school's…

Thirteen charter schools were opened for the first time in New Jersey in 1997, and 23 new charter schools were approved for the following year. This study, prepared for the New Jersey Institute for School Innovation, provides information on the experience of the first year of charter schools' operation, the results of which may be useful in…

In U.S. K-12 public education, incentive pay for educators remains firmly fixed as a high-interest policy topic and has recently become a popular reform initiative in many school systems. The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), created in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Education, is at the forefront of this policy movement and has provided hundreds of…

This report describes an evaluation of charter schools in Arizona. Eighty-two charter schools representing the 137 charter-school holders in the state participated in the study. The schools were selected to be representative of all state charter schools with regard to location, population density, grade level, and sponsoring agency. A total of 303…

Alberta parents enjoy a range of choices for their children's education, including the option of home education. Alberta's "School Act" and its funding guidelines for education recognize the central role of parents in the education of their children. No matter what your decision about educational programming, your ongoing involvement…

Three surveys assessing 100 California charter schools were conducted in 1997-98. Interviewees included teachers, principals, and parents. Findings include: 7 out of 10 charter-school principals report that their schools boast waiting lists; overall, parents selected the school's curriculum as their primary reason for selecting a charter;…

This report contains the interim findings of the Evaluation of Charter School Effectiveness. The study team collected and analyzed data on organizational arrangements and instructional activities implemented in charter schools to assess the impact of charter schools on teaching and learning. The study focused on four research questions: What is…

Over the past decade, public attention on the importance of the civic development and education of youth has grown. To address these concerns, the East Bay Conservation Corps (EBCC) Charter School opened in 1996 with the explicit mission to prepare and engage students grades K through 12 as caring citizens who are capable and motivated to fully…

This special report is a supplement to a series of special education primers created to inform state officials, authorizers and charter school operators about special education in the charter sector. The primer series also provides tools to help these stakeholders build charter school capacity to provide special education and related services. In…

This study examined parents' perspective on the effectiveness of the Detroit Public Schools kindergarten program and public school alternatives. Surveys were mailed to the homes of 3,000 families with children enrolled in a Detroit Public Schools (DPS) kindergarten program. A total of 340 surveys were completed and returned, for a return rate of…

This is the first annual report of the 17-month initial study of Pennsylvania charter schools. The document contains interim information about the status and development of the state's charter schools and the charter-school initiative as a whole; it is not intended to be a summative evaluation of individual schools or the initiative, and it is not…

As interest in expanding the number of high quality charter schools available to parents and students has grown, policy makers have increased their focus on identifying and providing support to new charter programs that have the potential to improve student outcomes and satisfy parent and student needs. Since 1994, the U.S. Department of Education…

The Preschool Teacher Survey was designed to gather information on the experience of preschool teachers in the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) and their perceptions of program effectiveness regarding student cognitive development, school readiness, parent involvement, and stability of classroom enrollment. The 12-item survey was distributed,…

This paper presents a program for counseling students enrolled in an online charter school located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The author presents a review of the process to establish an online school in Nevada and a unique model for delivery of services that combines face-to-face instruction and online education. The author describes the development of…

This booklet presents findings of a study that gathered information about charter schools. Representatives of more than 170 public charter schools were surveyed by mail, telephone or at national and regional meetings. Approximately 120 surveys were returned by representatives of 110 charter public schools in seven states--California, Colorado,…