Characteristics of New Orleans Charter Schools Associated with Student Achievement Growth

Charter schools have the flexibility to be distinctive and innovate in ways that may affect their performance. This study from Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest explored organizational, operational, and instructional features of New Orleans charter schools that are potential indicators of student achievement growth in English language arts, math, and science.

This exploratory study examined the associations of potential indicators of open-enrollment public charter schools serving grades 3–8 in New Orleans with school-level value-added measures of student achievement growth in the 2012/13 school year. Six features emerged as potential indicators of charter school effectiveness, particularly for school-level student achievement growth in English language arts. Student achievement growth was positively associated with having kindergarten as an entry grade, an extended school year, and more experienced teachers. It was negatively associated with having a higher percentage of teachers with a graduate degree, a higher student–teacher ratio, and more student supports offered at the school.

The exploratory results are a first step in identifying charter school conditions that could be studied through more rigorous research to determine whether they are valid indicators of student success.


Details:

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the number of charter schools in New Orleans has rapidly expanded. During the 2012/13 school year—the period covered by this study, of the 85 public schools in New Orleans, 75 were chartered, enrolling more than 84 percent of all public school students in the city in 92 different school campuses.

This study explored organizational, operational, and instructional features of New Orleans charter schools serving grades 3–8 that are potential indicators of student achievement growth in English language arts (ELA), math, and science.

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Key Findings:

• The organizational characteristic of kindergarten provided as an entry grade was associated with higher levels of VAM on the ELA test. 
• The operational characteristic of an extended school year also was associated with higher levels of ELA VAM. 
• The instructional characteristics of a lower percentage of teachers with graduate degrees, more experienced teachers, and a lower student/teacher ratio were associated with higher levels of ELA VAM. 
• The analysis revealed fewer potential key indicators of charter school effectiveness regarding VAM in math and science. 
• The inclusion of kindergarten as an entry grade was the only school feature that was statistically significant in its association with math VAM; schools with kindergarten were correlated with higher math VAM scores. 
• Having a lower student/teacher ratio and fewer staff in student support roles were the only school features that were statistically significant in their association with higher science VAM scores. 
• None of these associations between potential key indicators and math and science 
• VAM scores remained statistically significant when estimated using 2013/14 outcome data, indicating that the results are not robust to such an additional analysis. 
• Offering kindergarten as an entry grade and having a lower teacher/student ratio were the only potential key indicators with statistically significant associations with more than one VAM outcome. 
• Having kindergarten as an entry grade was positively associated with ELA and math VAM. 
• Having a lower teacher/student ratio was associated with higher ELA and science VAM.