Five groups rank state charter school environments according to their laws, regulations, funding, and other characteristics, but none rank states by charter student performances on a national test. We rank states by demographically adjusted math and reading performances of charter students in 4th and 8th grade for the period 2009 to 2019 on the…

Texas enacted legislation allowing for the establishment of charter schools in 1995. The Texas charter sector has subsequently grown into one of the largest in the nation. Today, there are more than 600 charter schools in Texas educating approximately 3.5 percent of public school students. In this study, the authors estimate the impact of charter…

The number of charter schools grew rapidly for a quarter-century after the first charter opened its doors in 1992. But since 2016, the rate of increase has slowed. Is the pause related to a decline in charter effectiveness? To find out, the authors tracked changes in student performance at charter and district schools on the National Assessment of…

Charter schools in urban environments have been scrutinized for their effectiveness. This study attempted to determine whether students attending Midwestern urban charter schools outperformed students in traditional schools on the state's accountability system over a 5-year time period. Using a quasi-experimental research design, data were…

One of the educational reform methods sanctioned under No Child Left Behind legislation is the development of charter schools (King, 2007). While many studies have focused on comparing the student academic achievement rates of charter schools to traditional public schools, little empirical research exists comparing student academic achievement…

In 2005, a group of concerned parents who had arrived in the United States as refugees from war-torn Somalia received approval from their local school district to establish the Iftin Charter School (ICS). The K-8 school continues to engender hope and intellectual strength in its students and parents. ICS finds itself uniquely equipped to meet the…

Are charter school students in Dayton learning more than students in traditional district schools? You might be surprised to find that the answer is "yes," though there is still tremendous room for improvement on both sides. This analysis takes Ohio's 2004 School Report Card data from the state Department of Education and compares them with 2003…