CORRELATES OF TEXAS STANDARD AP CHARTER CAMPUSES AND HOW THEY COMPARE WITH STANDARD AP TRADITIONAL PUBLIC CAMPUSES Jason Diego Gomez, B.S., M.S. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2009 APPROVED: Richard Fossey, Major Professor James D. Laney, Co-Major Professor John C. Brooks, Committee Member Carol D. Wickstrom, Interim Chair of the Department of Teacher Education and Administration Jerry R. Thomas, Dean of the College of Education Michael Monticino, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Gomez, Jason Diego. Correlates of Texas Standard AP Charter Campuses and How They Compare with Standard AP Traditional Public Campuses. Doctor of Education (Educational Administration), August 2009, 133 pp., 18 tables, 13 figures, references, 60 titles. The research sought to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of Texas standard AP open- enrollment charter school campuses and to discover independent variables that may be utilized to predict effective charter school campuses. The data items used in the analyses were downloaded from the 2007-2008 Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS), which contains a variety of data from all Texas public schools. Multiple statistical analyses were utilized including chi- square, ANOVA, multiple regression and discriminate analysis. In order to evaluate Texas standard AP open enrollment charter campuses, their accountability ratings were compared with those of standard AP traditional public school campuses. The research evaluated twelve independent variables for charter schools to determine their relationship to accountability ratings, thereby providing charter operators indicators or predictors of accountability ratings to facilitate better academic quality. By analyzing the same variables for traditional public schools as charter schools, a baseline model was developed to compare the similarities and differences with the results of the charter school analyses. Copyright 2009 by Jason Diego Gomez ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I want to say thank you to my wife Kelly and my children Abigail, Jason and Isabel for sacrificing time with their dad while I completed my doctoral coursework and dissertation. Second, I have a debt of gratitude to Marilyn Muscanere for her multiple edits, attention to detail and encouragement to finish, as well as to all my family and friends for their encouragement and prayers, including Jim Anglea and Susanne Garner. Next, I am extremely grateful to Dr. Richard Fossey, Dr. Jim Laney and Dr. John Brooks for their sagacious advice, insights and direction on this research. Finally, I am exceedingly grateful to God for the direction to start the doctoral program and the strength to complete it. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 School Choice ......................................................................................................................... 2 Politics ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Growth .................................................................................................................................... 4 Purpose and Rationale ................................................................................................................ 6 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 7 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 8 Overview of Methodology .......................................................................................................... 9 Limitations and Assumptions ................................................................................................... 10 Definition of Terms .................................................................................................................. 11 Organization of the Study ......................................................................................................... 13 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...................................................................................................14 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 14 History of Charter Schools ....................................................................................................... 14 Ray Budde ............................................................................................................................. 14 Albert Shanker ...................................................................................................................... 16 The Beginning ....................................................................................................................... 18 What is a Charter School? ........................................................................................................ 19 Purpose .................................................................................................................................. 19 Founders or Sponsors ............................................................................................................ 21 Types of Texas Charter Schools ........................................................................................... 21 Home Rule School District Charter .................................................................................. 21 Campus Charter ................................................................................................................ 22 Open-enrollment Charter .................................................................................................. 22 iv University Charter ............................................................................................................. 22 Funding ................................................................................................................................. 23 Who Can Attend? .................................................................................................................. 24 Laws ...................................................................................................................................... 25 Pros and Cons of Charter Schools ............................................................................................ 26 National Charter Schools .......................................................................................................... 29 Characteristics ....................................................................................................................... 29 Teachers ................................................................................................................................ 32 NAEP 2003 Pilot Study ........................................................................................................ 34 4th Grade Reading Results ................................................................................................. 35 4th Grade Math Results ..................................................................................................... 36 Hierarchical Linear Modeling ........................................................................................... 37 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 38 Texas Charter Schools .............................................................................................................. 38 Characteristics ....................................................................................................................... 42 Enrollment ............................................................................................................................. 43 Staff ....................................................................................................................................... 45 Principal and Parent Survey .................................................................................................. 46 Academics ............................................................................................................................. 48 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 51 3. METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................53 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 53 Research Questions and