Pennsylvania's Evaluation
Plan for Charter Schools:
A Preliminary Study
Prepared by Dr. Timothy Daniels, Director
of the Office of Educational
Initiatives at the Pennsylvania Department of
Education, April 21, 1999
After an RFP and subsequent rigorous selection process earlier this
year, The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University has been selected
to conduct a study of Pennsylvania's charter schools. The study, costing
a total of $174,958 over two years, is funded by Pennsylvania's federal
charter school grant. The study will be conducted over a period of seventeen
months, beginning in May 1999, and will include the thirty-one charter
schools operating during the 1998-1999 school year.
The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University was chosen to conduct
a systematic evaluation of individual charter school's fulfillment of the
intent of Pennsylvania's charter school law and the school's locally approved
educational mission. Accordingly, the study requires an evaluation system
that responds to Act 22 of 1997, particularly Section 1702-A, Legislative
Intent. This section of the law specifies a number of components which
the evaluator will use to study each charter school's accountability.
The six components that will be studied under legislative intent are:
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improved pupil learning;
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increased learning opportunities for all pupils;
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innovative teaching methods;
-
new professional opportunities for teachers;
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expanded school choices within the public school system; and,
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school accountability.
Another design facet of the study is the creation of an evaluation model
for use by researchers in the future. In other words, the databases established
by this preliminary study can be used to provide longitudinal data for
possible and required future studies of Pennsylvania's charter schools.
It is the Commonwealth's intention that longitudinal data collected in
this preliminary study will form the basis of the five year evaluation
of charter schools required by Act 22 of 1997.
This study provides a research component to Pennsylvania's overall accountability
plan for charter schools. The collection of test data from the state PSSA
tests and locally administered school tests are measurement tools used
in this study. Also, Western Michigan will collect data by employing parent
and student satisfaction surveys, teacher and student focus groups, and
other measures that determine the achievement of each charter school's
specific mission.
Added to the other accountability components of Pennsylvania's Charter
School Accountability plan--the annual report, local and state school audits,
school financial reporting requirements and the Office of Educational Initiatives
federal grant monitoring visitations--Western Michigan University's evaluation
of Pennsylvania's charter schools completes the total package needed to
determine the accountability of Pennsylvania charter public schools.
In summary, the evaluation of Pennsylvania's charter schools combines
new and existing measurement tools to paint a realistic beginning picture
of Pennsylvania's fledgling charter schools. The study is a preface to
a longer, more comprehensive study planned for upcoming years.
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