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TITLE:
Does Charter School Competition Improve Traditional Public Schools? Civic Report.

AUTHOR(S):
Paul Teske
Mark Schneider
Jack Buckley
Sara Clark

DOCUMENT TYPE: Report

Link to Document: Does Charter School Competition Improve Traditional Public Schools? Civic Report.

ABSTRACT:
This report presents the findings of a study on how, by competing for students, charter schools affect the traditional public-school system. The study focused on Springfield and Worcester, Massachusetts; Jersey City and Trenton, New Jersey; and the District of Columbia. Data for the study were collected from various newspapers and databases; published and electronic materials prepared by state education departments and school districts; and interviews with district superintendents and other district leaders, school-board leaders, charter-school heads, teachers-union leaders, and school principals. Among the findings of the study are the following: Charter school competition has not induced large changes in districtwide operations; district-level attitudes toward charter schools vary widely; district-level support is not related to market share held by charter schools; school districts have been shielded from the fiscal implications of losing students; population trends may be blunting the impact of charter schools; hostility between the sectors limits the spillover from charter schools to traditional public schools; public-school officials do not believe charter schools actually provide new models or programs; charter schools and traditional public schools differ in the pattern of innovations they adopt; charter schools are more consumer friendly; charter schools may be evolving as substitutes for private schools. (Contains endnotes, 3 appendices, and 27 references.) (WFA)