Charter Schools 2000: Fourth Year Report This Term Paper

Charter Schools 2000: Fourth Year Report

This study makes the powerful assumption that the student/teacher ratio in a school correlates to the quality of education enjoyed by the students. Specifically, the lower the student/teacher ratio, the stronger the school is. The study finds the following data:

First, in 1998-99, most charter schools had a slightly lower teacher to student ratio than did all public schools in the 27 charter states (in 1997-98). The median student/teacher ratio for charter schools was 16.0 as compared to 17.2 for all public schools. (Fourth Year, 1)

The disparity between charter and all public schools in the median teacher to student teacher ratio was about two students per teacher at the primary, K-12, and "other" grade levels. The gap was less than one at the elementary, K-8, middle, middle-high, and high school levels. (ibid)

The most extreme disparity between the charter school and the all public school median student/teacher ratio was at the ungraded schools, with ungraded charter schools having a much higher student to teacher ratio, 18.8 students per teacher, as compared to 8.8 students per teacher in other public schools. (ibid)

A even higher proportion of all public schools had student to teacher ratios in the mid-range (16-20 students per teacher), while charter schools were more likely to have both smaller and larger class sizes.Some instances of high student to teacher ratios for charter schools -- especially at the high school level -- may reflect the school's use of non-traditional educational approaches such as self-paced computer assisted instruction and distance learning. (ibid)

The research was carried out using a great percentage of public and charter schools, which lends credence to the study's findings. However, one of the gravest failings of the study was the assumption (mentioned above) that student/teacher ratio relates directly to school quality and education quality.

Achievement in Charter Schools and Regular Public Schools in the United States: Understanding the Differences - December 2004

In this study, Caroline Huxby finds that charter schools are definitely stronger than general public schools, after selecting for a number of limitations on the data.

The study finds that a higher percentage of students in established charter schools are judged proficient on the state reading and math examinations than in the nearest traditional public school. If a charter school has been operating for more than nine years, ten percent more students are scoring at or above the proficiency level in both subjects. For charter schools in operation from five to eight years, five percent more students reach proficiency in reading than their public school peers. (Harvard, 1) The advantage in the math subjects is four percent. For charter.....