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.