Charter School Teachers Research Articles

Teacher Attrition in Charter and Public Schools

This paper examines attrition and retention rates among teachers in charter and traditional public schools. This study finds that among all teachers, there is no difference in the attrition rate between charter and traditional public school teachers. Among new teachers, charter teachers are 3.39 times more likely to leave teaching than their traditional public school counterparts. Among new teachers who voluntarily leave or move, teaching at a charter increases the odds of leaving by a factor of 3.04. The difference between the two rates indicates that charter schools may be exercising their freedom to let go of teachers which are not a good fit for their schools. Teachers with a higher opportunity cost of teaching, those teaching high school, those with graduate degrees, and those with grater responsibilities outside of the classroom are more likely to leave the profession.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding Teacher Motivation, Job Satisfaction, and Perceptions of Retention among Arizona Teachers

This study attempted to describe the current status of teacher motivation, job satisfaction, and retention among teachers in the state of Arizona. All PK-12 public and charter school teachers in Arizona were asked to respond to a web-based survey, which included items about their overall job satisfaction, the motivational levels of various school-and non-school-based factors and performance incentives. Finally, they were asked a series of questions regarding their perceptions of teacher retention, including whether or not they had ever seriously considered leaving the profession and ratings of various conditions that would cause them to leave the profession, as well as those which would attract them to stay. Usable survey responses were received from 9,053 teachers. Results included an overall job dissatisfaction rate of 26%, and several significant job satisfaction differences among demographic groups. Also presented are rankings of teacher ratings of the motivational levels for 18 job factors, 11 performance incentives, as well as reasons for leaving the teaching profession, and enticements for remaining in the profession. The discussion includes suggestions for the implementation of recognition-based programs for teachers in schools and districts.

Charter School Teacher Job Satisfaction

We examine whether working conditions in charter schools and traditional public schools lead to different levels of job satisfaction among teachers. We distinguish among charter schools managed by for-profit education management organizations (EMOs) and non-profit charter management organizations (CMOs) and stand-alone charter schools. We investigate our research question using data from the School and Staffing Survey. We find that teachers in charter schools are less satisfied with their jobs than teachers in traditional public schools. We also find that teachers in EMO-managed schools appear less satisfied than those in stand-alone charter schools. Our analyses suggest that lower salaries and limited union memberships help drive these lower levels of satisfaction, particularly among stand-alone charter schools and charter schools managed by EMOs.

The Uncertainty of High Expectations

Teacher turnover continues to be a chronic problem for low-income schools and is especially high in urban charter schools. New evidence shows that teachers’ perceptions of school leadership and trust are two of the most powerful predictors of turnover. Using interviews with former No Excuses charter school (NECS) teachers, this study seeks to better explain the mechanisms influencing teacher turnover by analyzing teachers’ perceptions of what principals do to influence relational trust and describing how this influences teachers’ decisions to leave. Findings show how high and often-implicit expectations principals have for teachers affect teacher-principal trust relationships in ways that lead to turnover.

Different location or different map? Investigating charter school teachers' professional identities

This paper explores how novice charter school teachers' professional identities were shaped by their histories, views of teachers and teaching, preparation, and teaching experiences. Participants tended to view teaching in traditional public schools as lacking cache and rigor. Constructing a professional identity as highly skilled, dedicated, and deserving of stature, participants sought institutions they felt were aligned with this identity—charter schools. While participants' initially perceived their charters as structured and coherent, over time they struggled to hold multiple identities (e.g., parent and teacher) and later questioned the sustainability, intensity, and efficacy of their and their colleagues' efforts.

Nonprofit, For‐Profit, or Stand‐Alone? How Management Organizations Influence the Working Conditions in Charter Schools*

ObjectiveWe examine how the working conditions in charter schools managed by management organizations (MOs) compare to those that teachers experience in stand‐alone charter schools. We consider differences in the degree of autonomy within the schools, professional development, levels of administrative support, support from teachers and parents, and teachers’ work hours and levels of compensation.MethodsOur data come from the 2011–2012 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). We estimate multilevel models using the hierarchical linear modeling software, while controlling for the composition of the teachers and school context.ResultsWe find that teachers in charter schools managed by education MOs have lower levels of autonomy than teachers in other charter schools. They also receive lower levels of compensation than other charter school teachers.ConclusionFor‐profit MOs appear to constrain the charter schools that they manage, limiting the ability of teachers to determine how students are taught within their classrooms.

Brilliant, Bored, or Badly Behaved? Media Coverage of the Charter School Debate in the United States

BackgroundIn recent years, charter schools have received a great deal of media attention, appearing in documentary films, newspaper articles, magazine profiles, television news programs, and even sitcoms and feature films. The media is not alone in its interest in charter schools; researchers in the public and for-profit arenas have also focused their attention on charter schools in recent years.QuestionsThis paper employs qualitative content analysis to answer the following questions: What information have journalists contributed to the charter school debate in the United States? And how might this information have shaped or influenced the debate?Research DesignTo answer these questions, we conducted a qualitative content analysis of print media coverage of the early years of the charter school debate. We analyzed 145 articles about public charter schools and public alternative schools that appeared in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times between 1994 and 2006. We developed two types of coding categories: descriptive and interpretive. The descriptive coding categories captured the following information about each article in our dataset: the publisher, the type of school described and the student population. The interpretive coding categories captured reporters’ descriptions of the students, teachers, resources, and institutional cultures of charter and alternative schools.FindingsOur analysis uncovered several interesting themes. First, we found that print media depictions of charter and alternative school teachers tended to be more positive than media depictions of teachers in traditional public schools. This was especially true of print media coverage of charter schools that serve low-income students and/or students of color. Our analysis also cast doubt on a core assumption of the charter school debate; that charter schools’ approach to educating their students differs significantly from that of traditional public schools and public alternative schools. In their articles about charter schools that serve middle-income students, reporters described institutional cultures and pedagogical strategies identical to those found in alternative schools with similar student populations. When reporting on alternative schools that serve low-income students and/or students of color, reporters described pedagogical strategies that mirrored those found in charter schools with similar student populations.RecommendationsFurther research is needed to determine whether charter and alternative schools are educating their low- and middle-income students differently. If future research confirms this, we warn that charter and alternative schools could be preparing their low-income students and/or students of color inadequately for higher education and work in professional environments.

Shared sense-making: how charter school leaders ascribe meaning to accountability

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which charter school leaders influence the understanding and conception of accountability policy and how that understanding translates into practice. In particular, this paper draws from sense-making theory and research on charter school leaders to identify their pre-existing understandings, their shared interactions, and their interpretations of accountability policy as they relate to professional development and instructional practices.Design/methodology/approach– This paper uses the qualitative case study approach to document the organizational processes of charter schools. Data for the study were collected in two elementary charter schools over the course of 18 months. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data because this method is compatible with the inductive, concept-building orientation of all qualitative research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two charter school leaders and twelve charter school teachers. In-depth interviews with the leaders were also conducted to gain a deeper understanding of sense-making. In addition pertinent staff meetings, professional development sessions, and informal interactions between charter leaders and teachers were observed.Findings– While the charter school leaders in this study were inclined to adopt approaches that reinforced their pre-existing understandings, they did so using interpretative frameworks that sought to enact policies they deemed most crucial at the school level. These frameworks included metaphors and modeling, both of which reflected the policy signals received from the institutional environment. The leaders’ use of metaphors and modeling incorporated accountability policy into messages that encouraged constructive instructional practices, including data-driven analysis, project-based learning, and technology use.Originality/value– This paper broadens discussions about charter school leaders and accountability in three ways. First, it explores how school leaders interpret and adapt policy signals. Second, it delineates the frameworks used by charter school leaders to identify and make sense of accountability policy. Finally, this paper highlights the ways in which charter school leaders influence the teachers in their school buildings through shared sense-making.

Which Teachers Choose a Defined Contribution Pension Plan? Evidence from the Florida Retirement System

Since 2002, public school teachers in Florida have been permitted to choose between a defined benefit (DB) and a defined contribution (DC) retirement plan. We exploit this unique policy environment to study new teachers’ revealed preferences over pension plan structures. Roughly 30 percent of teachers hired between 2003 and 2008 selected the DC plan, despite the fact that teachers not actively deciding within six months were defaulted into the DB plan. The share choosing the DC plan was higher among teachers with advanced degrees, math and science teachers, and teachers in charter schools. It was lower among special education teachers and especially among black and Hispanic teachers. There was only a slight relationship between plan choice and teacher value added to student achievement, with teachers in the bottom value-added quartile roughly 2 percentage points less likely to choose the DC option.

“Are we architects or construction workers?” Re-examining teacher autonomy and turnover in charter schools

Charter school teachers nationwide expressed greater autonomy compared to traditional public school teachers at the turn of the century. But is this trend changing? The recent proliferation of Charter Management Organizations (CMOs), which often have prescriptive organizational models, has raised questions around how teachers perceive autonomy and control in these schools. Researchers consistently find that faculty input into decision-making has a strong influence on staff commitment and turnover. This exploratory, interview-based study critically examines why and how CMO teacher autonomy is linked to turnover. CMO teachers linked various concerns over autonomy, which was limited by their organization’s model, with decisions to leave their jobs. Teachers with strong expectations for autonomy or ideas inconsistent with their school’s model experienced substantial conflict involving the discipline or socialization of students that affected their career decisions. Teachers’ desires to have a voice in issues surrounding students’ socialization ultimately hinged upon their skepticism that current practices were adequately preparing students for college and life.

Opening the “black box”: Organizational differences between charter schools and traditional public schools.

Using survey data collected from 2,273 teachers in Texas, this study explores differences in school organization that contribute to the experiences (e.g., working conditions, instruction and student engagement in learning, self-efficacy and job satisfaction, and teacher evaluation) of charter school and traditional public school teachers. Researchers used propensity score matching to reduce the impact of selection bias and to produce accurate estimates of the charter-traditional public school differences. Compared with similar teachers in traditional public schools, charter school teachers reported a more supportive teaching environment, higher expectations of students among staff, a greater sense of responsibility for student learning, and higher levels of student engagement in learning. However, they reported, attending fewer professional development trainings focused on instruction and aligned to teaching assignments, fewer opportunities for professional development and collaboration with colleagues, and lower perceived fairness of teacher evaluation. Findings from this study provide valuable insight into the school organization factors that may underlie teacher turnover and represent unmet needs among charter school teachers, and suggest strategic areas of focus for policymakers, charter management organizations, and charter school leaders in addressing teacher retention and student achievement.

Education Reform in New Orleans: Voices from the Recovery School District

In the post-Katrina education landscape in New Orleans, teachers in charter schools and district-run schools in the Recovery School District are uniquely situated to provide a direct eyewitness account of the successes and failures of the city's new direction in public education. This narrative presents the opinions of teachers in a critical assessment of recent reforms. This piece is a condensed overview of a qualitative study that took place during the 2010–11 academic year.

Who Are Charter School Teachers? Comparing Teacher Characteristics, Job Choices, and Job Preferences

Given the importance of teachers to student learning, it is important to understand how and why charter schools differ in terms of their human capital. This paper explores the following questions: How do teacher qualifications and characteristics vary across school types? How much choice do teachers feel they have about where to work? How do teacher preferences for where to work differ by school type? Our findings suggest that charter school teachers do have different preferences for where to work compared to traditional public school teachers, but understanding these differences requires exploring differences among types of charter schools as well.

Who teaches in American charter schools? Findings from secondary analysis of the 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey

Charter schools have been in existence for 20 years in the USA and their effectiveness has been heatedly debated. Despite a growing literature on charter school administration, research on charter school teachers in comparison with their counterparts at traditional public schools is scarce. Using secondary data from the 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey, this study aims to compare the demographic and qualification characteristics of charter school teachers versus traditional public school teachers. Cross-tab analysis, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were applied. The results show that charter teachers were considerably younger, more likely to be from minority groups, much less experienced, less likely to have earned a bachelor's degree, to have qualified for full certification, and to be teaching in-field than traditional public teachers. However, charter school teachers were also more likely to graduate from more selective colleges. It is concluded that the reduced regulation at charter schools helped lower the entry barriers to teaching for non-traditionally certified but academically qualified candidates. This study is limited by the fact that the secondary data used are around 10 years old. Therefore, the results should be treated primarily as ‘snapshot’ views of the US charter school teachers in early 2000s.

Teacher Working Conditions in Charter Schools and Traditional Public Schools: A Comparative Study

Background/Context Teachers affect student performance through their interaction with students in the context of the classrooms and schools where teaching and learning take place. Although it is widely assumed that supportive working conditions improve the quality of instruction and teachers’ willingness to remain in a school, little is known about whether or how the organizational structure of charter schools influences teacher working conditions. Purpose/Research Question This article compares teacher working conditions in charter and traditional public schools and among various types of charter schools. In doing so, it seeks to understand whether the different working conditions are influenced by the intrinsic institutional features of charter schools such as autonomy and competition, or by the extraneous factors such as measureable school and teacher characteristics. Research Design This study utilized data from the 2003–2004 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), the nation's most extensive survey of K–12 schools and teachers, both for charter schools and traditional public schools (TPSs). This article is a quantitative analysis that involves three main steps. First, based on the responses to the SASS teacher questionnaire, confirmatory factor analysis was performed to generate multiple factors corresponding to key dimensions of teacher working conditions. Second, propensity score matching was used to pair charter schools with TPSs that are similar in terms of school location, educational level, school type, and student demographics. This matching process mitigates the confounding effects of these extraneous factors on teachers’ perceptions of working conditions. Finally, a series of weighted Hierarchical Linear Models were utilized to compare teachers’ perceptions of working conditions between charter and traditional public schools, controlling for teacher and school characteristics. Conclusions/Recommendations The results show that charter and traditional public school teachers perceive their working conditions to be similar in many regards, including principal leadership, sense of community and collegiality, classroom autonomy, opportunities for professional development, and adequacy of instructional supplies. However, charter school teachers perceive that they have significantly more influence over school policies, but a heavier workload than traditional school teachers. Among charter schools, district-granted charter schools show consistently more supportive working environments than charters granted by other organizations. This implies that state policy can have some indirect influence over charter school working conditions by providing substantial administrative support and oversight to charter schools authorized by independent organizations other than the established structure of school districts.

Explaining the gap in charter and traditional public school teacher turnover rates

This study uses national survey data to examine why charter school teachers are more likely to turnover than their traditional public school counterparts. We test whether the turnover gap is explained by different distributions of factors that are empirically and theoretically linked to turnover risk. We find that the turnover rate of charter school teachers was twice as high as traditional public school teachers in 2003–04. Differences in the distributions of our explanatory variables explained 61.0% of the total turnover gap. The higher proportions of uncertified and inexperienced teachers in the charter sector, along with the lower rate of union membership, were the strongest contributors to the turnover gap. Charter school teachers were more likely to self-report that working conditions motivated their decisions to leave the profession or move schools, although we found no measurable evidence that the actual working conditions of charter and traditional public schools were different.

Taking measure of charter schools: better assessments, better policymaking, better schools

Chapter 1 Through a Glass Darkly: An Introduction to Issues in Measuring the Quality of Charter Schools Part 2 Part One: Improving Research On Charter Schools Chapter 3 Madness in the Method? A Critical Analysis of Popular Methods of Estimating the Effect of Charter Schools on Student Achievement Chapter 4 Expanding What Counts When Evaluating Charter School Effectiveness Chapter 5 The Effect of Attending Charter Schools on Achievement, Educational Attainment and Behavioral Outcomes: A Review Chapter 6 The Selection of Students into Charter Schools: A Critical Issue for Research and Policy Chapter 7 Admission Lotteries in Charter Schools Chapter 8 Charter School Maturation as a Factor in Performance Assessment and Accountability Chapter 9 What Do We Know About Teachers in Charter Schools? Part 10 Part Two: How Policymakers Can Make Better Use of Evidence Chapter 11 The State of State Charter School Research Chapter 12 Would Better Research Lead to Better Schools? Chapter 13 Conclusions about Charter School Policy and Research

Racial Mismatch and School Type

Studies of teacher satisfaction suggest that satisfaction is related to both the racial composition and the organizational structure of the schools in which teachers work. In this article, the authors draw from theories of race and organizations to examine simultaneously the effects of school type (traditional public vs. charter) and racial mismatch on teacher satisfaction and subsequent turnover. In doing so, they examine the organizational differences between traditional public and charter schools that contribute to systematic differences in satisfaction and turnover across these school types. Using 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey data, the authors find that charter school teachers are more satisfied than are public school teachers because of greater autonomy. Charter school teachers, however, are more likely to leave teaching than are traditional teachers. The authors also show that teaching in racially mismatched schools results in lower levels of satisfaction for white teachers and that being in a charter school reduces this negative effect.

On the Consequences of the Marketisation of Public Education in Sweden: For-Profit Charter Schools and the Emergence of the ‘market-oriented Teacher’

The entrance of for-profit charter schools into the public educational system is one of the most recent manifestations of market-based reforms in public education. Previous studies raise concerns over the marketisation of education and suggest that market reforms clearly change teacher attitudes and behaviour. Taking a public administration theoretical approach, this article discusses how for-profit schools influence the behaviour of teachers. This article develops an index (the Market Orientation Index) for measuring market orientation among teachers. Analyses of differences in scores on the Market Orientation Index among a sample of Swedish teachers working in public schools and for-profit charter schools also shows that charter school teachers are more market oriented. The result indicates that for-profit school ownership led to the emergence of the ‘market-oriented teacher’.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Comparing Teacher Mobility in Florida's Charter and Traditional Public Schools

Currently, we know very little about the mobility decisions of charter public school teachers and how these compare to the decisions made by traditional public school teachers. In addition, it is unclear whether the teachers who leave charter schools tend to be weaker or stronger than their peers. Using statewide administrative data, I begin to answer these questions by studying the magnitude and nature of teacher turnover in Florida's charter public schools compared with turnover in the state's traditional public schools. It appears that Florida's charter school administrators may be better able to recruit and retain teachers with high academic skills than their traditional counterparts. In addition, the mobility patterns exhibited by Florida's charter school teachers differ from those exhibited by traditional school teachers in important ways, including greater sensitivity to accountability measures and less sensitivity to salary considerations. I thank Steve Mangum, Kathy Peck, and Jeff Sellers of the Florida Department of Education for their assistance in obtaining and interpreting the data. I also thank Jeffrey Brooks, Douglas Harris, Stacey Rutledge, JimWyckoff, participants at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Education Finance Association, and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments. Any remaining errors are solely my responsibility.