NW Laboratory Home

In the Library

On November 29, 1995, Education Week published an indepth special report on the charter schools movement. "Breaking Away: The Charter School Revolution" traces the growth of the charter schools movement from a "hazy educational notion" to a "legislative juggernaut." The 16-page report takes readers inside charter schools in Minneapolis and Boston, and shows them the dreams of prospective founders in Arizona. It compares the power of various states' charter school laws to spur real change in the public school system. And it provides a list of organizations and reports relating to charter schools. To order a copy of the report, send $4 to: "Breaking Away: The Charter School Revolution," Education Week Special Reports, 4301 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 250, Washington, DC 20008.

Other special reports on charter schools have appeared recently in Phi Delta Kappan (September 1996) and in Educational Leadership (October 1996).

An article in Education Week on November 6, 1996, titled "Under the Microscope" looks at what the editors call the "big question": Do charter schools work? The writer offers a good analysis of the issues and obstacles researchers are dealing with as they attempt to discover whether the investment in charter schools is paying dividends.

An article from the mainstream press offers a lay-person's perspective on the charter schools movement. See "A Class of Their Own" in Time magazine, October 31, 1994.

In a report from the Hudson Institute, Charter Schools in Action: What Have We Learned?, Chester Finn, Bruno Manno, and Louann Bierlein present the findings of the first year of a two-year study of U.S. charter schools. The study focuses on start-up problems, solutions to those problems, and the policy environments in which such schools are most apt to thrive or falter. The report includes five major sections. After an introduction and overview, it looks at highlights and accomplishments of a national sampling of charter schools; explores significant start-up problems many charter schools have encountered; considers charter-related dilemmas faced by policymakers; and offers conclusions and recommendations. The study found that more than 80 percent of charter school students had previously been enrolled in public schools, 8 percent came from private schools, 2 percent were home schooled, and 4 percent had dropped out. The researchers also found that more than half of the charter students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch; almost one in five have limited English proficiency; almost two-thirds are members of minority groups; and almost one in five has a disability or learning problem. To order, send $5 to: Hudson Institute, Herman Kahn Center, P.O. Box 26-919, Indianapolis, IN 46226, 1-800-483-7660, http://www.edexcellence.net.

The U.S. General Accounting Office puts charter schools under the microscope in its 1995 report Charter Schools: New Model for Public Schools Provides Opportunities and Challenges. The report answers these questions:

Order the report from the U.S. General Accounting Office, P.O. Box 6015, Gaithersburg, MD 20884-6015, (202) 512-6000. The first copy is free; each additional copy is $2.

Offering a good overview of arguments for and against charter schools is Charter Schools 1995: A Survey and Analysis of the Laws and Practices of the States by Thomas Mauhs-Pugh of Dartmouth College. The report also provides a state-by-state rundown of charter activity, cross-state comparisons, descriptions of existing and proposed schools, and an analysis of lessons learned. Extensive bibliographic citations are offered. Access the document through the World Wide Web at http://olam.ed.asu.edu/epaa/v3n13/. Other online resources include the Center for Educational Reform's Web site, which offers information on contact people at the state and federal levels; a listing of organizations involved with charter schools; and a listing of charter schools events. Go to http://www.edreform.com, where you also will find the National Charter School Directory, which lists all currently operating charter schools by state and offers a brief description of each, along with contact information. For a paper copy of the directory, send $9.95 to: Center for Education Reform, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 204, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 822-9000.

America Online provides a lively charter schools forum (keyword: charter). For more information, contact Frank Dooling at afcfrank@aol.com.

The American Federation of Teachers weighs in on the issue in its 1996 publication Charter School Laws: Do They Measure Up? The report examines the charter legislation in 25 states in an effort to assess whether these laws are likely to yield high-quality schools. The federation defines "good" charter legislation as that which "protects the public interest and the integrity of public education." It defines "bad" legislation as that which "encourages charter schools to become the basis of an alternative school system created for a few, but operating at the expense of many." For a copy of the report, send $10 to: American Federation of Teachers, 555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20001-2079, attention Order Department, (202) 879-4400.

Aspiring charter school operators will find a wealth of useful information and recommendations in a report from the University of Washington and the RAND Institute for Education and Training. The report, So You Want to Start a Charter School? Strategic Advice for Applicants, is the product of a 1995 workshop sponsored by the Program on Reinventing Public Education, which brought together 12 experts to explore start-up issues. Bankers, lawyers, insurance experts, and others who have worked with charter school applicants nationwide offer tidbits of wisdom and practical information in a variety of critical areas, including:

Copies of the report are available for $3 from: Program on Reinventing Public Education, Institute for Public Policy and Management, Box 353060, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, (206) 685-2214.

Joe Nathan, director of the Center for School Change at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, has written a comprehensive book called Charter Schools: Creating Hope and Opportunity for American Education (October 1996). The book provides advice to those thinking of founding a charter school and includes resources on state laws, contact people, and online resources. Nathan, a former award-winning public school educator, draws upon nationwide surveys, research, and visits to dozens of charter schools to answer such questions as, Who starts charter schools? What kinds of students attend? Are charter schools using ideas and techniques other schools can and should learn from? Are these schools actually helping students? Are charter schools having an impact on the larger system? The book also explains why both liberals and conservatives, including people who oppose vouchers, support the charter approach.

Writes the author: "Charter Schools is intended for school administrators and teachers who are already active in a charter school, thinking of starting a charter school, or working in a district that is or will be granting authorizations to these schools. It is also intended for members of school boards at both state and local levels. Finally, it is designed to inform and assist parents and community members who are involved with an existing charter school, are in the process of planning such a school, or are simply considering whether a charter school is appropriate for their children or their community."

To order the book, send $25 plus $5.50 for shipping, to Jossey-Bass Publishers,350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94104, 1-888-378-2537.

The Education Commission of the States has published the findings of a study designed to gather and share the best available information about charter schools. The report, Charter Schools: What Are They Up To? describes the experiences of 110 charter schools in seven states. Among the key findings are:

To order, send $10 to: ECS Distribution Center, 707 17th Street, Suite 2700 Denver, CO 80202-3427, (303) 299-3692 (ask for item number SI-95-1).

The Southwest Regional Laboratory offers an early look at California's charter school experiment in its report Vision and Reality by Marcella Dianda and Ronald Corwin. As the second state to enact charter school legislation, California's experience can prove instructive to states that are drafting or considering such legislation, the authors note. The report discusses the parameters of California's legislation, the characteristics of California's charter schools, and the factors that may affect the number of schools created, among other topics. Based upon their findings, the authors offer recommendations for strengthening charter schools in the state. To order a copy of the report, send $14.95 to: WestEd, 730 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, Attention Tom Ross. Another lab in the regional laboratory network, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, has issued two charter schools reports, Redefining Educational Governance: The Charter School Concept ($7) and "Charter Schools: Early Learnings" in the Insights series of policy papers, July 1995 ($6.50). To order, contact: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, 211 E. Seventh Street, Austin, TX 78701, (512) 476-6861.

The proceedings of the Northwest Symposium for Charter School Policy held in Portland, Oregon, in November 1996 have been published under the title Charter Schools at the Crossroads: A Northwest Perspective (see "Charter for Change" for excerpts of the report.) Moderators for the NWREL-sponsored event were Douglas Thomas of the Center for School Change and Lori Mulholland of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy. Included in the report are the papers that Mulholland and Thomas presented at the symposium. Thomas answers such policy questions as: How do charter schools fit into the larger policy picture of school choice? Who should sponsor charter schools? How much money should follow the charter? Mulholland looks at the latest research on charter schools, offers caveats about interpreting that research, and describes a number of studies in the pipeline. To order the report, send $13.80 to: Document Reproduction Service, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 101 S.W. Main Street, Suite 500, Portland, OR 97204.

Back Next

This document's URL is:

Home | Up & Coming | Programs & Projects: Northwest Education | People | Products & Publications | Topics

© 2001 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory

Date of Last Update: 9/28/01
Email Webmaster
Tel. 503.275.9500

NW Lab Home