Standards-Based Reform and the Charter School Movement in 1998-99: An Analysis of Four States. Final Report to the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.

The Institute for Education and Social Policy assessed the relationship between standards-based reform and the charter school movement in four states: Texas, Massachusetts, California, and Louisiana. These states were selected because they are the focus of other projects sponsored by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and because, as a group, they offer interesting variations in the status of standards-based reform. Site visits were made to nine schools, two in three states, and three in California. Researchers held interviews with 13 administrators, 24 teachers, and many students, and conducted 14 teacher and parent focus groups. Sites visits were supplemented by document collection and telephone interviews with state education officials and interviews with state charter resource staff. The charters of schools in this sample were at times superseded by state or district decisions that reshaped aspects of the charter school, eroding its accountability. Five of the nine schools served local students as well as choice students. Charter schools also experienced state and district standards through the interaction of specific teachers, specific students, and curriculum over the school year. Charter schools in this sample appeared to receive relatively little professional development for standards-based reform, but they generally were not out of the loop when it came to receiving state and district mandates. Experience with these schools suggests that charter school funding may be reproducing the resource disparities that exist in traditional public schools. (Contains 17 references.) (SLD)