U.S. charter schools are publicly funded through state school finance formulas that often mirror the traditional public school finance systems. While charter school advocates and critics disagree over whether charters receive an equitable share of funding, few discussions are based on rigorous analyses of funding and expenditures. Most prior…

Virtual charter schools provide full-time, tuition-free K-12 education through internet-based instruction. Although virtual schools offer a personalized learning experience, most research suggests these schools are negatively associated with achievement. Few studies account for differential rates of student mobility, which may produce biased…

The data used in this report come from the Principal Questionnaire of the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), a nationally representative sample survey of public K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In the 2015-16 NTPS, public school principals were asked to identify their top…

The research on full-day kindergarten and its benefits are robust, from improving literacy skills, greater math and reading gains during the school year, and overall academic growth. In addition, children with developmental delays and special learning needs are able to be identified earlier and supported with appropriate interventions. Fully…

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between specific leadership behaviors and student achievement in Illinois high schools excluding those within the Chicago Public School System. The leadership behaviors examined in this study include setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and improving the…

Against the backdrop of the debate around exclusionary discipline practices, this case study asks readers to consider how leaders must balance autonomy with concerns about accountability and equity. In this case, a traditional public school principal in search of more autonomy accepts a principalship at a charter school, but as she attempts to…

In this article, the authors study charter growth in a single region as a case study: the Bay Area, which includes San Francisco and the cities, suburbs, and rural areas that surround it. California is one of the nation's leading charter school states, and charters have boomed in the Bay Area in particular. The area also is in the midst of a…

Up to 75 percent of charter principals in the United States leave the role within five years. Understanding how early-career principals conceptualize the role could help strengthen principal preparation and in-service training. This study analyzed early-career charter principals' descriptions of the principalship in order to understand their…

Over the past 15 years, the education research community has advocated for rigorous research designs that support causal inferences, for research that provides more generalizable results across settings, and for the value of research-practice partnerships that inform the design of local programs and policies. We propose the multi-cohort,…

States increasingly lean on charter organizations to take responsibility for their most underperforming turnaround schools. These efforts employ a different constellation of regulation, market forces, and community involvement that constitute more complex environments for charters. This article relates the experience of operators within the…

This study contributes to the growing body of research concerning the strategic geographic positioning of traditional charter schools (TCS) in urban areas and their segregative effect by considering economist Michael Porter's concept of business clusters, in which businesses 'cluster' to maximize their potential profit and to gain access to a…

Seven years ago, Highland Park Schools went through a highly publicized period of turmoil and organizational upheaval. The troubled time for that Detroit-area district was brought on by a steep drop in enrollment and the deep financial crisis that followed. By contrast, the district's newest upheaval is rooted less in obvious signs of distress…

When the first virtual school began more than 20 years ago, it offered an incredible promise: Suddenly, students could get access to a great education and a diversity of courses regardless of place or time. They could have flexibility to "attend" school around medical appointments, sports practices, or whatever else life threw at them.…

Public charter schools are unique public schools that foster innovative approaches to solving some of today's most difficult educational challenges. Free from many of the constraints that traditional schools face, the charter school movement has been a leader in innovation, school choice, and education reform for more than 25 years. At the same…

The "no excuses" charter school model is widely regarded in public debate as an effective policy intervention to politically and economically empower historically marginalized student populations. The organizing principle of the "no excuses" model is to do whatever it takes to close the achievement gap and to prepare students…