Student Level Analysis Of Year 2 2004 2005 Achievement Outcomes For Tennessee Charter Schools

Download or read book Student-Level Analysis of Year 2 (2004-2005) Achievement Outcomes for Tennessee Charter Schools written by Steven M. Ross and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report presents student-level achievement results for two groups of schools in Tennessee: (a) four charter schools that began operation in 2003-2004; and (b) three new charter schools that were established in 2004-2005. These two cohorts were therefore completing their second and first academic years, respectively, at the time the achievement tests were administered in spring 2005. To conduct a rigorous and valid analysis of student achievement outcomes, a matched program-control design was employed at the student level in six of these seven schools. In this design, each charter school student was paired to a comparable "control" student who attended the same or a similar district school in the year prior to the former's charter school enrollment. In the sixth school, which comprised primary elementary grades only, pretest scores were unavailable for the majority of charter school students and potential matched pairs: a comparison group was established by randomly selecting students who were identical in race and poverty status to the charter students and who attended comparable neighborhood schools. This report supplements an earlier report on the implementation progress made by the charter schools, encompassing school climate, classroom teaching methods, and perceptions by teachers, principals, parents, and students. The Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program: Achievement Test (TCAP/AT) scores were used to assess academic achievement of students who were in grades 2 to 8 during the 2004-2005 school year. For students in grades 9 to 12 during the 2004-2005 school year, the Tennessee Gateway Assessments were used as outcome assessments. Overall, the analyses of achievement found mostly positive effects for the second-year charter schools but equivocal outcomes for the first-year schools. As indicated in the first-year report, readers are encouraged to interpret the results cautiously given that because of student choice and other constraints, authors were unable to conduct a randomized experimental study that eliminated family interest or involvement as an influential factor, and some grade-level matched-pair sample sizes were small and thus subject to sampling error. (Contains 3 footnotes and 5 tables.) [For the Year 1 report, see ED491148.].