The National Center on School Choice is funded by the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. The Center exercises national leadership in school choice research, including charter and magnet schools, private school vouchers, teacher recruitment, school management, and state policymaking.

Organizational Analysis on What Works Under
What Conditions

Mark Berends, Vanderbilt University
Ellen Goldring, Vanderbilt University
Ron Houser, Northwest Evaluation Association
Tom Loveless, Brookings Institution

What’s going on inside schools that helps students achieve?  To answer this question, we are comparing conditions in charter schools with those in matched regular public schools.

In the spring of 2006, we administered teacher and principal surveys in 45 charter schools and 45 matched regular public schools across four states—Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, and Minnesota.  The comparison schools were matched on characteristics such as proximity to the charter school, similar grade levels served, number of students tested, and racial and socioeconomic composition.  With these data, we are now addressing: (1) how charter schools differ from traditional public schools in terms of autonomy, innovation, and accountability, and (2) how these core components of charter schools are related to instructional conditions that promote more positive educational outcomes, such as increased student achievement growth in reading and mathematics.