Secretary's Speech at Manhattan Institute

New research reports from the U.S. Department of Education show that charter schools are helping public schools and districts to improve.

One new report shows that school districts are changing their educational services and operations in response to the creation of charter schools in those districts -- suggesting that competition can play a positive role in helping to improve all public schools.

A second report shows that strong accountability can lead to better instruction and improved schools. The report argues that traditional school districts can learn important lessons from the charter school experience about how to hold all public schools accountable for results.

The reports are entitled Challenge and Opportunity: The Impact of Charter Schools on Districts and A Study of Charter School Accountability

"Charter schools offer meaningful options for parents and their children -- particularly for those children who would otherwise be left behind in low-performing schools," said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige during a speech today at the Manhattan Institute in New York City. "The good news is that charter schools do not just help the students they serve directly, they also prod the entire system to improve. The districts studied are responding to competition by listening to parents, adding programs at other public schools, and more closely examining student achievement to determine what needs to be done to improve it. This means better schools for all of our children."

Charter schools are public schools that are freed from many state and local regulations and rules but are held accountable for improving student achievement. To date, some 2,100 charter schools have been formed in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the 36 states that have passed charter school authorizing legislation.

"The President's solid support for charter schools, coupled with bipartisan Congressional backing, will help expand public school choice and provide more options for children and parents," Paige said. "In turn, districts will respond with improved student achievement."

Challenge and Opportunity: The Impact of Charter Schools on Districts surveyed district leaders' perspectives on changes attributed to charter schools. The study is the largest review to date conducted of the impact of charter schools on school systems. The study is based on interviews and site visits to 49 school districts in Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Michigan.

Positive changes cited by these districts included:

• adding an educational program at existing schools, such as all-day kindergarten;
• opening a specialty school, such as gifted or dropout programs;
• being more responsive to parents and improving communication;
• offering character education or a specialized curriculum.

Some districts reported reduced revenue resulting from students who had transferred from regular district schools to charter schools. But according to the report, these same districts made the most effort to win back children and families through changes to the system.

A Study of Charter School Accountability is the first extensive, nationwide study of charter school accountability. Researchers spent two years (1997-1999) studying 150 charter schools, and interviewing school staff, state officials and representatives of 60 state and local authorizing agencies. The report concludes that external accountability -- being answerable to an oversight authority -- promotes internal accountability -- including productive working relationships and better coordination among teachers, administrators and students.

"The President's education proposal, No Child Left Behind, will move all public schools towards a focus on results and away from concentrating on rules and regulations," Paige added. "Charter schools are leading the way by illustrating that the best way to gain the confidence of families, teachers and supporters is to focus on quality instruction."

Other findings include:

• Creating governing boards, which are often the official oversight mechanism for charter schools, and establishing a good division of responsibility between board and staff, is very challenging for many charter schools. When this relationship works well, however, it strengthens internal accountability.
• Agencies that watch over charter schools struggle to learn how to base accountability on performance rather than compliance. New organizations created to oversee charter schools--special offices in universities, school districts and state governments--learn their jobs relatively quickly, while conventional school district offices have trouble breaking long-established habits of detailed compliance-oriented oversight.

The impact study is part of the department's four-year national evaluation of charter schools, prepared under contract with the Office of Educational Research and Improvement by RPP International, Emeryville, Calif., and the accountability study was prepared under contract by the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Challenge and Opportunity: The Impact of Charter Schools on Districts is available at: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/chartimpact/ and A Study of Charter School Accountability is available at: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/chartacct/. Copies are also available by calling 1-877-4ED-PUBS.