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California's Charter Schools:
2009 Update on Issues and Performance

This publication presents five articles that discuss separate issues regarding charter schools in California.

The first article, Focus on Quality, discusses several standards measuring a charter school’s success using standards developed from within and outside the industry.  Currently there is no consensus on this issue, and debate ranges from whether it would be best to apply charter-only standards or apply the same standards that are used for regular public schools.  Furthermore, once defined, how are successes to be replicated on broader scale, and in a sustainable manner?

Charter schools in California make up about seven percent of the schools overall, and educate four percent of California’s school children.  The article Vital Statistics explores the impact of charter schools in California, by focusing on the sources of funding, growth in the roster of charter schools since their introduction in 1993, and the varying approaches to school governance.

Another article, Charters vs. Non-Charters, analyses test score data among elementary, middle, and high schools, factoring in ethnic composition, class sizes, district concentrations, and parent education.  A fourth article, Spotlight on CMOs (Charter Management Organizations), analyzes and seeks to define this relatively new concept of supplying charter schools with administration, faculty, and staff geared specifically toward populating charter schools.  The last article, Washington Signals Support, briefly considers the current climate and attitude towards charter schools from the Obama administration, and how charter schools can tap into the federal stimulus package.

To read the full report, please click here http://www.edsource.org/pub_CharterPerf6-09.html.