Charter Schools Serve Predominatly Minorities, Low Income Students. According to the Center for Education Reform (CER), on November 19, 2004, the U.S. Department of Education released a study that confirms that charter schools serve a disproportionate number of low-income and minority students, or those students most likely to be struggling in conventional public schools. Although it addresses some student achievement data, it does not explore student progress from year to year. Click here to read the full copy of the report.

Hoxby Achievement Study: A Straightforward Comparison of Charter Schools and Regular Public Schools in the United States. Harvard professor Caroline Hoxby released a thorough study of charter school achievement that found charter schools outperforming nearby traditional public schools in both reading and math. Unlike the recent report issued by the AFT and published by the New York Times, the Hoxby study was methodologically sound, controlling for important factors that influence student achievement.

Legislative Analyst Recommends Lifting the Cap, Increased Categorical Funding, and Alternative Authorizers. The California Legislature’s Office of the Legislative Analyst recommends expanding charter authorizing agencies, beefing-up the Charter School Categorical Block Grant, and eliminating the cap on the number of charter schools in California. The Analyst’s recommendations, issued on January 20, 2004 in Sacramento, are the latest in a series of largely positive reports and recommendations about California’s expanding charter movement.

Veteran Charter Schools Outperform Non-Charters on API. An analysis completed by the Charter Schools Development Center shows that charter schools operating for five or more years outperformed all public schools as well as their younger peers.

Evaluation of [California] Charter School Effectiveness. The 1996 California Legislature directed the non-partisan Office of the Legislative Analyst to commission an interim study of the effectiveness of California's charter schools and legislation. This inch-think report is the result and is disappointingly thin on information and findings. By SRI International staff. December 11, 1997. Both text-based and "portable document format (PDF)" versions of the study are available from the Legislative Analyst's website.

The Charter Movement: Education Reform School By School. This March, 1996 report, by California's non-partisan government watchdog organization, took a deep look into many of California's early charter schools. Must reading for all California policy makers.

Charter School Implementation Challenges.Researched and written just a few months after the opening of California's earliest charter schools, this discussion paper outlines the major challenges facing the developers of charter schools. These issues and challenges include education and instruction, legal and governance, finance, support services and sponsor relations, and staffing and labor relations. The paper offers suggestions for policy makers, charter granting agencies, and charter developers. By Eric Premack and Linda Diamond. January 1994.

Charter Schools In Action.The Hudson Institute's in-depth study of charter schools in several states.

WestEd's charter schools page including links to their study of one school's implementation challenges.

Review of Three State Charter Studies. A brief summary of state charter school studies in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Minnesota.

Charter School Research Website. This huge site, maintained by Syracuse University graduate student Jude Hollins, is chock full of research links.

A National Charter School Technical Assistance Website. This site, co-developed by the Charter Schools Project at the Institute for Education Reform and WestEd under contract to the US Department of Education, contains extensive links and resources for charter school developers and operators. Click here to link to the site's research page.

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