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Charter School Study
Overview of Charter School Study Conducted
by
TEA, TUSD, Tucson Business Leaders:
Oct. 2004-Jul. 2005
In the fall of 2004, the National Education Association
(NEA), the Arizona Education Association (AEA), and
the Educational Enrichment Foundation awarded $46,000
in grants to the Tucson Education Association (TEA)
to form a partnership with TUSD and the Tucson business
community to study why a significant number of students
are withdrawing from district schools and enrolling
in charter schools.
More specifically, the study allowed the partners
to find answers to several questions about the charter
school movement in TUSD. And then, based on
what the study "found," it allowed the grant's
Executive Committee to make concrete recommendations
to the TUSD Governing Board and superintendent that
could substantially reduce the numbers of students leaving
for charters and possibly bring back some who already
had left.
Some of the questions the study answered are:
- What are the reasons parents withdrew their children
from TUSD schools and enrolled them in charters? (Close
to 5,200 students left for charters
between July 2003 and May 2005.)
- How many returned to the district in these two
years? (1,166 -- 22% returned).
- Did the students and their parents find that the
charter schools they chose met their expectations?
- How do TUSD employees and students feel about the
loss of students to charters? Why do they think students
leave? What do they think TUSD can do to bring these
students back and prevent this from continuing?
An Executive Committee comprised of 10 representatives
from TUSD, TEA, AEA/NEA and the business community was
responsible for the project and directed all activities.
(See "Acknowledgements"
section for the names of the 10 members.)
NOTEWORTHY:
- The study included parent phone interviews;
a web-based principals' survey; a review of charter
school literature; and 8 separate focus groups
with parents, TUSD principals, teachers, counselors,
office managers and attendance technicians and students.
- One of the key findings: 61% of the parents
polled who enrolled their children in charter schools
between July 2003 and May 2005 still have
a child or children in a TUSD school, and an additional
10% already had returned their children to a TUSD
school. This, coupled with other findings
in the study, made it reasonable to conclude that
when most parents choose charter schools, they are
seeking a remedy for a child with a specific
problem rather than because of their dissatisfaction
with a particular school or the district.
HOW FUNDS WERE USED:
The bulk of the funds were used to for two purposes:
contracting with outside consultants
to conduct and analyze the research (Behavior Research
Center) and for printing and distributing 28,000
copies of preliminary and final reports about
the study issued by the Executive Committee.
A FEW NUMBERS:
- There are 2,300 charter schools in the U.S.
502 (20%) in Arizona and 58 within TUSD's geographic
boundaries. Nationally, there are approximately
565,000 students in charter schools: Arizona has 81,612
(14%).
- Arizona and California are tied for leading the
nation in the number of charter schools, with Florida,
Texas and Michigan next. Combined, these 5 states
contain 68% of all charter schools nationally.
- The 5,200 TUSD students who withdrew in
the last two years reduced state funding to TUSD by
approximately $27 million.
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