ERIC Number: EJ1051314
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Feb
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0195-6744
EISSN: N/A
Positioning Charter Schools in Los Angeles: Diversity of Form and Homogeneity of Effects
Lauen, Douglas Lee; Fuller, Bruce; Dauter, Luke
American Journal of Education, v121 n2 p213-239 Feb 2015
The debate over charter school effectiveness relies largely on neoclassical logic: individual parents or students express demand for a widening array of school types and then experience variable levels of organizational quality. We argue that market-like behavior is nested in segments of local organizational fields with different types of charter school operators seeking market niches to reduce resource uncertainties. We first describe the emergence of three legally defined charter types in the Los Angeles Unified School District between 2002 and 2008. We show how these charter segments became stratified, as gauged by demographic attributes and quite different baseline achievement levels. While this structuration could also plausibly condition uneven achievement effects, we find that, in this initial period of charter expansion, all three types failed to raise achievement, compared with the achievement growth trajectories displayed by peers attending regular public schools.
Descriptors: Charter Schools, School Effectiveness, Achievement Gains, Academic Achievement, Effect Size, Institutional Characteristics, Organizational Change, Case Studies, Educational History, Cluster Grouping, Commercialization, Standardized Tests, Case Records, Cohort Analysis, Scores, Student Characteristics, Racial Composition, Achievement Rating, Educational Assessment, Educational Indicators, Elementary Secondary Education
University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 877-705-1878; Tel: 773-753-3347; Fax: 877-705-1879; Fax: 773-753-0811; e-mail: subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu; Web site: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/journals/journal/aje.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A