Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

When Stanford University’s nationally recognized Center for Research on Education Outcomes conducted a nationwide overview of charter school performance in 2023, one data point was perhaps most striking: Across dozens of states, the charter schools that gave students the biggest academic edge compared with their counterparts in traditional public schools were located in Rhode Island.

Seldom listed among the nation’s top K–12 performers or its most aggressive reformers, the Ocean State was nevertheless home to a relatively powerful school choice sector. According to the study, students at Rhode Island charters gained the equivalent of 90 extra days of learning in English, and 88 extra days in math, per year.

With the U.S. still groping its way back from massive pandemic-related learning loss, the New England-specific finding generated little focused attention either locally or nationally. But in October, CREDO released a new analysis that suggests the impressive results may be rooted in the state’s approach to opening and evaluating charters.

Rhode Island’s charter regulations are “instrumental in driving” student success, CREDO argues, pointing to a 2017 overhaul of accountability procedures that simplified the conditions for schools to be rated and renewed. According to interviews with over a dozen key figures from the charter world, the Rhode Island Department of Education, and the governor’s office, the change in law improved relationships between schools and state authorities and reduced uncertainty in how schools were assessed.

“There has been a change from chaotic beginnings to structured, standardized practices,” said Marzena Sasnal, the lead author of the report and a senior research associate at Stanford. “Participants see this as an improvement.”

Yet the local debate around school choice remains fractious, with charters often seen as competing with districts for students and education funding. Within the last few years, lawmakers considered enacting a moratorium on further charter growth, while leaders of the state’s largest district have become increasingly skeptical of charter expansion.

Justine Oliva, the director of research and policy at the nonpartisan Rhode Island Public Expenditure Councilcalled the matter of charter schools in the state “contentious,” particularly given the substantial drop in K–12 enrollment since the disruptions of COVID-19.

“With declining enrollment, I do think it’s likely that the issue continues to be a live one, particularly with the proposal for new charters moving forward.”

Charter leaders ‘in the dark’

Rather than directly addressing the often-frayed politics of school choice, or even the inner workings of charters themselves, the CREDO report focuses on the technical subject of charter school authorization — the process by which new schools are approved, kept open, or, if necessary, shuttered completely.

the و of و charter – تفاصيل مهمة

The state, which legalized charter schools in 1995, established a formal framework for evaluating them 15 years later. But according to the educators and bureaucrats who spoke with Sasnal, the flaws in that review mechanism led to low trust on both sides and a degree of unpredictability when the time came to decide whether schools would be allowed to continue operating.

With renewal decisions spaced at intervals of five years, charter leaders told CREDO they often felt as though they were acting “in the dark,” without receiving timely feedback on their academic performance or organizational health. Even annual data from standardized tests didn’t give a clear picture of how schools would be judged, some complained.

“The criteria for renewal were so ambiguous and complicated,” said Macke Raymond, CREDO’s director and a co-author of the report. “It didn’t even matter what your state test scores were because you didn’t know what the authorizer’s standards of evaluation were going to be when you came up for renewal.”

were و of و for – تفاصيل مهمة

The atmosphere was clouded further by political and legal pressure that sometimes developed when regulators made their decisions. When Blackstone Valley Prep, one of the top-performing charter organizations in the state, was greenlit for renewal in 2011, several members of the Rhode Island Board of Education with connections to teachers’ unions unsuccessfully attempted to rescind the decision. A few years later, three districts sued to prevent the opening of a new school, alleging that community opposition to the move had been ignored.

Following the 2017 reforms to the performance review system, however, CREDO’s interview subjects agreed that the steps to approval and renewal are legible both to schools and community members. Charter applications are published online, and public hearings must be held in communities from which students would likely be drawn.

School officials said they had a clearer understanding of the outcomes they would be held responsible for, including both academic performance as well as financial and managerial indicators. One leader said his charter school had been able to identify problem areas early and “put in place a corrective action plan.”

Kenneth Wong, a professor of education policy at Brown University, said the updated framework played “a key role” in stoking improvement in the state charter sector.

the و and و to – تفاصيل مهمة

“The review system integrates national standards, such as standards established by the National Association of Charter Schools Authorizersto sharpen the focus on performance-based accountability, data transparency, and quality monitoring.”

Tensions remain

Still, whatever tensions have been alleviated by the revamped system of charter regulations have not dissipated completely.

Elections last year in Providence — by far the largest city and school district in the state — elevated three candidates endorsed by local teachers’ unions to the newly re-established school board; just one charter advocate won election. This summer, the city council appeared poised to permit the Excel Academy charter organization to obtain a lease on a shuttered district school, only to backtrack in the face of public outcry. It was the second year in a row that a version of the deal, brokered by Providence’s mayor, had been scuppered.

the و in و by – تفاصيل مهمة

The back-and-forth follows a legislative push for a statewide moratorium on new charter growth that stalled in 2021. The state’s governor, Democrat Dan McKee, is a noted supporter of school choice currently seeking reelection. But his approval ratings are lowand the future direction of policy in the state is unclear.

Representatives from both of Rhode Island’s major teachers’ unions declined to comment for this story.

Total charter enrollment in the state is comparatively high, with roughly 10 percent of all K–12 students attending a charter school. Even beyond that figure, however, much of the demand from families is unmet: Nearly 30,000 students submitted applications for just under 2,500 available seats in the 2023–24 school year.

RIPEC’s Justine Oliva, pointing to a 2021 report on overall charter enrollment and performance in Rhode Island, called the schools “a bright spot” in the state education mix, overwhelmingly attracting students from disadvantaged communities and delivering significantly better academic results than the school districts they would otherwise attend. Children attending Achievement First charters — currently enrolling over 20 percent of all charter students in the state — were twice as likely to score proficient on state reading exams, and three times as likely on math exams, as those in their sending districts.

“Not all charters have great outcomes,” Oliva said. “They may still have a lot applicants than get in, but they don’t all have great outcomes. However, our largest charters have outcomes that outperform the sending districts, as does the charter sector overall.”

Did you use this article in your work?

We’d love to hear how The 74’s reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.Tell us how

have و all و charters – تفاصيل مهمة