Abstract

In this study, the researcher compared student achievement in Florida charter schools by investigating differences in those managed by for profit and not-for-profit entities in all 530 charter schools that reported results on the 2016 Florida Standards Assessments in Grades 4, 8, and 10 in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. Using a two-way analysis of covariance, this investigation found statistically significant achievement differences only in 10th-grade ELA when using poverty as a moderator variable and eighth-grade mathematics using both school cohort size and poverty as moderator variables. Also, the covariates of percentage of minority students, percentage of disabled students, and percentage of English language learners accounted for some of the variance in achievement results. These findings are similar to the extant literature where prior similar studies found mixed results between traditional public schools and charter schools and between not-for-profit and for-profit charter schools. Questions are raised by this research regarding the public funding of for-profit or proprietary charter schools if they do not routinely achieve superior results to traditional public schools. Implications for future research both building on this study and investigating other aspects of charter school performance include conducting similar studies on a recurring basis to better evaluate charter school performance, closer study on the role the covariates (minority status, disability status, and English language learner status) has on charter school student achievement, and a comparison of Florida's charter schools with Florida's traditional public schools.

Notes

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu

Graduation Date

2018

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Johnson, Jerry

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College

College of Education and Human Performance

Department

Teaching, Learning, and Leadership

Degree Program

Educational Leadership; Executive

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0007027

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0007027

Language

English

Release Date

May 2018

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Share

COinS