The purpose of this study was to
investigate the effectiveness of the North Carolina charter schools. The
variables were chosen based on the researcher’s inference from literature
reviews discussing common factors from qualitative charter school studies. The
indicators used to determine if charter schools could be categorized as
effective or ineffective were: 1) attendance rates, 2) short suspensions, 3)
student-teacher ratio, 4) teacher quality, 5) Reading NCE, and 6) Math NCE
scores. Charter schools were determined to be effective if they were “1”
standard deviation point above average for Reading NCE and Math NCE scores.
Charter schools were determined to be ineffective if they were “1” standard
deviation point below average for Reading NCE and Math NCE scores. The data
collected for this study was ex-post facto data from the North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction’s (NCDPI) website using the academic school
year 2008-09. The data was coded and entered SPSS creating a quantitative
output to be analyzed and interpreted. The quantitative output determined that
there were a total of 12 ineffective charter schools and 10 effective charter
schools. The results indicated that no charter schools in North Carolina were
affiliated with a traditional school district. Also, the dependent variables,
attendance rate, and teacher quality were determined to be statistically
significant in determining the effectiveness of a charter school in North
Carolina. The other variables were determined to be insignificant in
determining the effectiveness of charter schools in North Carolina.
References
[1]
Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2004). Entering the Mainstream: The Quality and Extent of Online Education in the United States, 2003 and 2004. Sloan Consortium. Newburyport, MA 01950. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED530061
[2]
Benjamin, J. (2006). Cross Cultural Comparison of Rural Education Practice in China, Taiwan and the United States. In Proceedings of the American Educational Research Association Annual Conference (pp. 1-35).
[3]
Bowen, N. K., & Bowen, G. L (1998). The Effects of Home Microsystem Risk Factors and School Microsystem Protective Factors on Student Academic Performance and Affective Investment in Schooling. Social Work in Education, 20, 219-231. https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/20.4.219
[4]
Brown, P. M. (2006). Municipally Operated Charter Schools: A New Trend in Community Services. Education and Urban Society, 39, 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124506291785
[5]
Buddin, R., & Zimmer, R. (2005). Student Achievement in Charter Schools: A Complex Picture. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 24, 351-371. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.20093
[6]
Buddin, R., & Zimmer, R. (2007). Getting Inside the Black Box: Examining How the Operation of Charter Schools Affects Performance. Peabody Journal of Education, 82, 231-273. https://doi.org/10.1080/01619560701312954
[7]
Center for Education Reform (2010). Annual Survey of America’s Charter Schools. https://edreform.com/2010/01/annual-survey-of-americas-charter-schools-2010/
[8]
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
[9]
District Administration (January 2009). Administrator Profile. Retrieved September 7, 2022. https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pmg/da0109/index.php?startid=16
[10]
Fidell, L., & Tabachnick, B. (2007). Using Multivariate Statistics (5th ed). Pearson Education, Inc.
[11]
Gay, L., Mills, G., & Airasian, P. (2006). Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications (8th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall.
[12]
Graham, E. (2009). Public School Education: The Case for Reduced Class Size. ERIC Database.
[13]
Hoffman, K., Llagas, C., & Snyder, T. D. (2003). Status and Trends in the Education of Blacks. National Center for Education Statistics.
[14]
House, N. G. (2005). Reclaiming Children Left Behind: Addressing the Causes and Cures for Low Minority Achievement. School Administrator, 62, 1-6.
[15]
Innovation in Education (2009, November). Charter Schools in North Carolina. https://www.johnlocke.org/research/charter-schools-in-north-carolina-innovation-in-education/
[16]
Knoff, H. M., & Raffaele Mendez, L. M. (2003). Who Gets Suspended from School and Why: A Demographic Analysis of Schools and Disciplinary Infractions in a Large School District. Education and Treatment of Children, 26, 30-51.
[17]
Livingston, J., & Nahimana, C. (2006). Problem Child or Problem Context: An Ecological Approach to Young Black Males. Reclaiming Children and Youth: The Journal of Strength-Based Interventions, 14, 209-214.
[18]
McKenzie, J. (2006). Killing NCLB in 2007; 17 Reasons Why NCLB Must Go. No Child Left, 8, 1-9. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.451.685&rep=rep1&type=pdf
[19]
Mendez, J. L., Fantuzzo, J., & Cicchetti, D. (2002). Profiles of Social Competence among Low-Income African American Preschool Children. Child Development, 73, 1085-1100. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00459
[20]
Merseth, K. (2009). Inside Urban Charter Schools. Harvard Education Press.
[21]
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, NAPCS (2010, January). How State Charter Laws Rank against the New Model Public Charter School Law. http://www.publiccharters.org/files/publications/DB-ModelLaw_Report_01-12-10.pdf
[22]
NC School Report Card (2010). http://www.ncreportcard.org/src/main.jsp?pList=4&pYear=2008-2009
[23]
Nelson, J. L., Palonsky, S. B., & McCarthy, R. M. (2016). Introduction: Critical Issues and Critical Thinking. Critical Issues in Education, 18.
[24]
No Child Left Behind Act of 2002: An Overview. Sierra Education Law. (2017, May 2). Retrieved September 7, 2020. https://sierraeducationlaw.com/no-child-left-behind-act-2002-overview/
[25]
No Child Left September 2005 - Government Accountability Office. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2018. https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-05-879.pdf
[26]
Noblit, G. W., & Corbett, D. (2001). North Carolina Charter School Evaluation Report. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
[27]
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, NCDPI (2001). Evaluation Section, Division of Accountability Services, Instruction and Accountability Services (p. II-8). State Board of Education. https://www.dpi.nc.gov/media/1000/open
[28]
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, NCDPI, Financial & Business Services, School Business Division (2009). Principals’ Monthly Report, 2008-09.
[29]
North Carolina Education Alliance (2004, November). Charter Schools in North Carolina: Innovation in Education. https://www.georgiapolicy.org/news/charter-schools-in-north-carolina/
[30]
Plucker, J. A., Makel, C. M., & Rapp, K. E. (2007). The Impact of Charter Schools on Promoting High Levels of Mathematics Achievement. Journal of School Choice, 1, 63-76. https://doi.org/10.1300/15582150802098738
[31]
Richardson, J. (2009, March). ‘Quality Education Is Our Moon Shot’: An Interview with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Phi Delta Kappan, 91, 24-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172170909100104
[32]
Rothstein, R. (2004). Wising up on the Black-White Achievement Gap. Education Digest, 70, 27-36.
[33]
Sack, J. (2004, September). California Charter Failure Affects 10,000 Students. Education Week, 24, 1. http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2004/09/01/index.html
[34]
U.S. Charter Schools.gov (2009, December). Evaluation of North Carolina’s Charter Schools. https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/charter-schools/
[35]
U.S. Charter Schools.org (2010, March). North Carolina Alliance for Public Charter Schools. https://www.publiccharters.org/.../north-carolina
[36]
U.S. Department of Education (2009). https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED522941
[37]
U.S. Department of Education (2010). American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/recoveryact.html
[38]
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement (2004). Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools. U.S. Government Printing Office.
[39]
Wikimedia Foundation (2022, November 20). Brown v. Board of Education. Wikipedia. https://wikimediafoundation.org
[40]
Ziebarth, T. (2010). How State Charter Laws Rank against the New Model Public Charter School Law in 2010. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Retrieved September 8, 2009. https://www.publiccharters.org/our-work/publications/how-state-charter-laws-rank-against-new-model-public-charter-school-law-2010
