Week 8 Blog Post- Writing the Literature Review!

I enjoyed writing about my topic about whether charter school education is better than public school education. When I finally started putting the sources together I found it was pretty easy to come up with 2-3 pages of writing because the assignments were already summarized. I just had to find what I wanted from each source and include it in my literature review. I still do not know if my research question as answered because the quality of school is dependent on different variables. All different aspects could come into play like the area the school is in, the teachers, the environment that the school creates, and the students. Like one of my research studies stated, it is difficult to know if children in a charter school would do better or worse in a traditional public school because they cannot be in two places at once.

I think that I should have taken this class earlier in my education at Brandman. It is one of my last two classes and I was really lagging when it came to writing the paper. I usually do assignments weeks in advance so I have time for later assignments, but I am starting to really want to be done so I keep putting off the final assignments for both the LBSU class and my PSYU class.

I really enjoyed keeping this blog as well. It was fun to have a record of my thoughts for the different weeks. I really liked being able to read classmate’s blogs and find out about what they are researching. I feel that my research was not as complete as I would have liked it to be because there were not a lot of studies on public school education (that I had access to… many wanted money to view them). I think that this topic is okay to have holes in my research because it honestly depends on the school to be classified as good or bad. A parent who is contemplating charter education might want to go get a tour of the school and maybe sit in a couple of classes to see if they are good or not. Public school might be the easier option of the many school choices because it is convenient, but some public schools are really not the best. It depends on what the parent wants.

I really wish everyone luck in all you do. I hope that you go far in your education and have fun along the way. Thank you to everyone who read my blog throughout the last eight weeks! 

-Allison Chang

Week 7 Blog Post- This Week's Research (Annotated Bibliography)

Writing the annotated bibliography was really helpful this week. I like that all the sources are compiled onto one document instead of having to go back and forth between the various sources that I have found over the last couple of weeks. I do not know if I will use all of the sources that I found, but I used the ones that would be most helpful for my literature review. The two new sources that I found were really interesting to read. A lot of the research that I have found says that children in charter schools either do worse or are no different than students in traditional public schools. I think that some charter schools depend on the quality of the education, teachers, and area that the school is in. Many of the studies that I found have used schools on the east coast to study. There are very little studies for schools on the west coast. I would really like to find at least one source that talks about a school in California. I know for a fact that the schools are very different from state to state.

The two new sources that I found were summaries from Stanford University studies that were conducted in 2013. They both seemed to be done by the same foundation, but had different information. Both articles were written last year and the authors had background in education.

I think one of the aspects of my research that still remains unanswered is my research question. I have found so much evidence that public education is better, but it would honestly depend on the environment, teachers, and children. Charter schools are thought to be better because of the flexibility of the education and the fact that the curriculum can be individualized. I think it depends on the student too. They might not do so well in a traditional public school, but excel in a charter school. It is hard to tell whether one student does well in either school because they can’t be in two places at once. Similar to one of my studies I found, I also think that there needs to be further research in whether students from a charter school learn more than from a traditional public school.

I think that people who are thinking about enrolling their child in a charter school should read my research for a brief overview. It does not go as in depth as it could. There also is not a lot of information on the topic of the outcome of public schools. I will need to find some last articles to complete my literature review before I talk about public schools.

Are charter schools better than public schools?

Carnoy, M., Jacobsen, R., Mishel, L., & Rothstein, R. (2005). The charter school dust-up. Economic Policy Institute, Washington DC.

In 2004, there was a controversy over whether charter schools are more effective than traditional public schools. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) publicized test results from the federal government’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) that showed that average achievement is higher in public schools. One of the problems with charter schools is that they hire unusually talented and dedicated teachers or teachers who may be less qualified than traditional schools. Charter schools are known for giving a different educational system than traditional schools. They have a more relaxed feel to their school setting that allows for flexible learning from their students. Another problem with charter schools is that some of them are not up to par. They are supposed to be better than public school, but some are not good at all and raise more disadvantaged students. This source provided a lot of information about the debate and explained particular downsides of charter school education.

Finn Jr, C. E., Manno, B. V., & Vanourek, G. (2001). Charter schools in action: Renewing public education. Princeton University Press.

The book looks into the world of charter school education from three and a half years. It is based on a research project that took two years that was called, “Charter Schools in Action” where the researchers visited one hundred charter schools, interviewed hundreds of people, surveyed thousands of parents, students, and teachers, and became familiar with the policy, environments, and implementation problems from more than a dozen states. The chapters go through the interviews and profiles of active people in the charter movement along with the charter school origins and difficulties of launching a successful charter school. This book is a great source because it talks about different perspectives of charter schools, the history behind them, and a research project that took two years to accomplish. It not only talks about the cons against charter schools, but also the pros. Many of the other sources that I have found focus mainly on the negatives of charter schools. I am able to compare different charter schools in the chapters describing the research study that Finn, Manno, and Vanourek conducted. There is a lot of interesting information in the book and it provides helpful studies, interviews, and descriptions of charter schools.

Hoxby, C. M., & Rockoff, J. E. (2004). The impact of charter schools on student achievement. Department of Economics, Harvard University.

Since charter schools were founded in 1992, almost 3,000 charter schools have opened in the United States. They only enroll a very small number of American students each year. They are supported by public funds, but receive fees on a per student basis. Charter schools are exempt or partially exempt from regulations about teacher certification. The results from charter schools are diverse. They are more flexible and innovative in education and funding is attached to each individual student. The flexibility of education allows for students to be catered to depending on their level. This source explains reasons why charter schools are often chosen over public schools.

Mathis, W. & Maul, A. (2013). CREDO’s significantly insignificant findings. National Education Policy Center. Retrieved from http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2013/0 7/review-credo-2013.

In 2013, The Center for Research on Education Outcomes announced that charter school students have greater learning gains in reading than their peers in traditional public schools. The study looked at schools in 27 states and New York City. It attempted to identify differences in student performance at charter and traditional public schools. The primary findings were a small positive effect on reading scores and no impact on math scores and a relative improvement on average school quality since the recent study in 2009. Students in charter schools were estimated to score about 0.01 standard deviations higher on reading tests and 0.005 standard deviations lower on math tests than their peers at traditional public schools. This source explains research that was found comparing public schools and charter schools. 

Sanchez, C. (2013). The charter school vs. the public school debate continues. National Public Radio. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2013/07/16/201109021/the-charter-school-vs-public-school-debate-continues.

In 2013, there have been publicly funded charter schools in 41 states and have enrolled more than two million students. A recent study from Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes concluded that about a third of the students in charter schools are doing better than those in traditional public schools. The other students are doing worse or no better than students in traditional public schools. Significantly disadvantaged groups of students are doing substantially better in charter schools in reading and math. Future studies want to look at whether charter school students are learning more than kids in traditional public schools. This source also explains the research found comparing the two school systems.

Xin Wei1, x., Deepa Patel1, d., & Viki M. Young1, v. (2014). Opening the "black box": Organizational differences between charter schools and traditional public schools. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22(3), 1-31.

A survey collected data from 2,273 teachers in Texas that explored the differences in school experiences in charter school and traditional public school teachers. This study looks at the experiences that the teachers face like working conditions, student engagement in learning, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction. Compared to public school, charter school teachers report having a more supportive teaching environment, higher expectations of students among staff, and a greater sense of responsibility for student learning. This article is a little different from previous articles because it talks about the teachers and the experiences that they face working at a charter school. It is a good article because it provides information about the teacher’s experiences and environment at a charter school.

Week 6 Blog Post- Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, Intellectual Property, and Copyright

The information I learned this week about academic integrity, plagiarism, intellectual property, and alternatives to traditional copyright practices was review of the rules that I have learned in past classes. I have taken various writing classes that have gone over plagiarism as a unit. I will be able to use the information to remember when I need to cite sources. I am usually really good about citing sources, but can forget when I need to even if I put the author’s thoughts into my own words. I will be able to look back on the information provided this week to know when I need to cite sources when I start to write my paper both for this class and for my other class.

The one subject that was introduced to me this week was copyright rules. I was not familiar with the rules before reading the information for this week so it was informative to read. I have not had any problems with citing sources and plagiarism in the past. The information provided this week will help me remember the rules in the future. There are so many rules to remember about plagiarism and copyright, but the practice that I have done in writing literature reviews in the past year helped me learn the rules. Now they come somewhat naturally to me. The only area that I have problems with is actually citing sources and how to format it especially if the sources are not already cited.

Week 5 Blog Post- This Week's Research (Empirical Research Article)

The study that I found this week is a little different than typical studies regarding charter school education. This week’s article focuses on the teachers of charter schools and their experiences like working conditions, student engagement in learning, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction. I like how this study looked at the teacher’s experiences. A lot of the research that I found in the past couple of weeks focus mainly on the negatives of charter schools. I will have to do some research about public and private schools in the next couple of weeks. I am honestly torn between charter schools and public schools. I think public schools are great. Some of them may not have the best teachers and the policies aren’t the best, but they are consistent.

I admit that some of them are not good, but there are also a lot of really good ones out there. The charter school that I work at appears to be a really good school. I love the environment, the students, and the teachers. They are all really supportive and good at what they do. The teachers truly love what they do and it is evident in their teaching. A lot of the teachers are younger, but from what I see it is a good thing. Younger teachers are able to understand their students better and still love what they do. I know from experience that some teachers who have been teaching for a long time aren’t consistent. They don’t teach what they are supposed to. I went to a public high school and there were a couple of amazing teachers, and others who should not be teachers.

My research strategies changed slightly this week. I went to the Leatherby Library instead of Google Scholar. I was able to find an article that fit what I needed for the assignment. It was a little confusing finding an article that was peer reviewed empirical versus peer reviewed, but I found what I could.

Week 4 Blog Post- This Week's Research (Scholarly Article)

The article that I found this week provided a study about a charter school and public school in North Carolina and which school had better student achievement. The article provided specific examples, scientific studies, and past research on the subject. I like how this article was exactly what my research question seeks to answer. The environment and outcome of the two schools might be different than a school in California, but the information is still accurate and will be helpful with writing my paper. The article I found states that students make considerably smaller achievement gains in charter schools than in public schools. Through the research that I have found from the past weeks, there has been a couple of sources that state that charter schools serving mostly at-risk students make a slightly larger gain than average students in traditional public schools. I find that really interesting because at-risk students might be more likely to fail, but with a charter school education have a better chance to succeed in school.

From the past couple of articles that I have found there have been more articles about the negatives of charter schools than the positives. I hope to find more positives on the side of charter schools because I am able to see firsthand how different and innovative charter schools are. I work at one and I see how the teaching styles, curriculum, and environment encourage children to explore creatively and move at their own pace.

I used the same research strategy this week as I have done in the past couple of weeks and it is my reliable method of research. I have yet to have to go onto different research databases because Google Scholar has provided enough research at the moment.

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Allison Chang