Finaldefense April2010v10 Web

A Comparative Study Between

Online Charter High Schools and Traditional High Schools

in California

Rob Darrow

April 7, 2010

California State University, Fresno

Final Dissertation Defense

Rob’s Wiki: http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com

http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com/

CSU Fresno. Final Dissertation Defense Presentation. Rob Darrow @ cusd.com. April 2010.

Welcome, Thank You and Presentation Schedule

20 Min: Rob’s Presentation 10 Min: Committee Questions 10 Min: Other Questions End of Presentation 5-10 Min: Committee Confers




My Dissertation Committee

Dr. Ken Magdaleno (Chair) Dept. of Educational Research and Administration Former teacher and middle school principal Interests: Latino and Latina mentoring,

leadership, issues of equity

Dr. David Tanner Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction Interests: statistics and measurement, educational

research, quantitative and qualitative evaluation


My Dissertation Committee (cont’d)

Dr. Ginny Boris Dept. of Educational Research and Administration Co-Director Central Valley Educational Leadership

Institute (CVELI) Interests: Curriculum/Instruction, Admin. Leadership

Dr. Brent Auernheimer Dept. of Computer Science Director of CSU Fresno Digital Campus Interests: web based instruction, human computer

interaction, software engineering


Background – National Trends

** Online Schools ** Enrollment increases

30% per year

** Charter Schools ** Enrollment increases 11% - 20% per year

Two educational trends challenging traditional education:


One Other National Trend:Static Dropout Rates


Research Focus Full Time Online Charter

School Students Traditional School

Students At-Risk Students In California Measured By:

Achievement Test Scores Dropout Rates


Research Questions

1. Are there a disproportionate number of at-risk students attending online charter high schools as compared to traditional high schools in California?

2. Are at-risk students more successful in online charter high schools than in traditional high schools in California?


Definitions Traditional High School

attend courses daily in face-to-face setting Online High School

attend courses online where 80% instruction is online Charter School

independently operated public schools of choice, free from many regulations but accountable for standardized test results as determined by state laws

At-Risk any student not making progress towards graduation

Success proficient on California Standards Test/English-Language

Arts (CST ELA) lower number of student dropouts


Definitions: Counting Dropouts

One student counts as a dropout if either:

A. Leaves a school and does NOT register at another school

OR B. Leaves school and does NOT have a

high school diploma

Standards set by US Department of Education (reported by states)

Counted in Grades 7-12 in California


Definitions: Online School Enrollment

Part-time Online Students Take one or two online courses in

addition to attending traditional school One student in one course per

semester counts one Full Time Online Students

One student attending the school counts one

Watson, Gemin, Ryan & Wicks (2009). Keeping pace with K-12 online learning.


Definitions: Counting Online School Enrollment

No Standards

Part-time online students not officially counted, except as an estimate in response to a researcher’s survey

Full time online students counted if they attend an online charter school

In California, public school students, including charters, are counted each October via California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS)


Literature Review

Three parts:1. Student Dropouts / At-risk Students

2. Charter School Students

3. Online School Students


Literature Review: Glass half full or half empty?

Dropouts

Graduates


Literature Review: Data used to determine dropouts or graduates

Longitudinal Data Collected by National Center for Educational Statistics

(1980, 1988, 1997, 2002) Common Core of Data (CCD)

Reported by states to Dept. of ED/NCES (yearly) Current Population Survey Data (CPS)

Monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics

National Census Report Data Every 10 years


Literature Review:

Counting High School Dropouts - NCESKetaldi, Laird & KewalJemani (2009)

Event Dropout Rate (one school year to next) Downward trend between 1972 and 2007 6.1% to 3.5%

Status Dropout Rate (one point in time) Downward trend between 1972 and 2007 14.6% to 8.7%

Status Completion Rate (diploma or GED) Increased completion rate from 1980-2007 83.9% to 89%


Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate - AFGR percentage of students who graduated on

time within four years

Increased graduation rate from class of 2002 to class of 2006

72.6% to 73.2%

Literature Review:

Counting High School Dropouts - NCESKetaldi, Laird & KewalJemani (2009)


Literature Review: Research and Dropouts

“Lack of school success is probably the greatest single cause which impels pupils to

drop out of school.” Ayres (1909). Laggards in our schools.


Literature Review: Indicators Leading to Student Dropouts

Individual factors Family factors School factors

• Balfanz et al. (2009), Hammond (2007), Wehlage et al. (1989)

School factors contribute to the majority of student dropouts

• Schussler (2002), Natriello, McDill and Pallas (1990), Rumberger (1987), Wehlage and Rutter (1986)


Literature Review: Research and Graduation Rates

Graduation rates have stayed the same…75% for the past 40 years

Wehlage et al. (1989)

Graduation rates have decreased, among Latinos and African Americans

Swanson (2005), Balfanz & Legters (2004), Orfield (2004)

Graduation rates have increased with the overall graduation rate at 82%.

Mishel (2006)


Literature Review: Dropout Research Shows

More males drop out than females Dalton, Glennie & Ingels (2009)

More students living in urban areas drop out Swanson (2008)

More African Americans and Hispanics drop out than Anglos and Asians

Levin et al. (2007)

More students of poverty drop out Dalton, Glennie & Ingels (2009)


Literature Review: Dropout Research

and What Makes a Difference?

Mentor programs or the presence of a significant caring adult can cause at-risk students to remain in school

• Camak (2007), Rysewyk (2008), Noddings (2005), Outlaw (2004).


Literature Review: Charter School History and Policy

1991 – Minnesota: first charter school law 1992 - California passed charter school law 1997-2009 – Every president supports charter

school direction. Obama vows to “expand our commitment to charter schools and invest in innovation.”

2009 – 40 states have passed charter school laws; 5,042 schools serving over 1.5 million students (Allen & Consoletti, 2010)


Literature Review: Charter School Development

Charter schools have the potential to transform American public education and provide choice to families that did not exist prior to charter schools.

Finn, Manno & Vanourek (2000), Nathan (1996)


Literature Review: Types of Charter Schools

Type Definition Number Percent

Traditional “Back-to-basics” approach. 268 23.1%

Progressive Educational philosophies and / or practices aligned with “progressivism.”

337 29%

Vocational Equip students with practical, career-related skills.

143 12.3%

General Similar to conventional neighborhood public schools.

342 29.5%

Alternative Delivery

Instruction outside of traditional school buildings or classrooms, such as virtual charter schools.

73 6.2%

Carpenter (2006). Playing to type? Mapping the charter school landscape.


Literature Review: Charter Schools and Student Achievement

Some charter schools performing better than traditional public schools, and some performing worse

Betts and Yang (2008)

Charter schools do not do well in their first year of operation but subsequently improve

Zimmer et al. (2009). Rand Report.


Literature Review: Charter Schools

Charter schools doing no better than traditional public schools with student achievement and are not serving minorities or poor students

UCLA Charter School Study (1998) examined charter schools in California

• Wells (2002)

“I speculate that charter school reform is a late-20th – century reform that will die of its

own weight some time early in the 21st century.”

• Wells (2002)


Literature Review: Online School History and Policy

1994 – 1997 - First K-12 online schools: Utah Electronic School Virtual High School – Massachusetts Florida Virtual School

2007 – Number of states with online programs / online legislation: 42

2007 – Number of online charter schools: 173 in 18 states 92,235 students (Center for Ed Reform, 2008)

2008 – Online course enrollments grew by 65% from 2002-03 to 2004-05 (Means, 2009)

2009 – More than a million K-12 online school students (Picciano and Seaman, 2009)


Literature Review: Types of Online Schools

A. National Companies – individual online charter schools in different states (K-12, Inc. Connections Academy, Insight, Kaplan)

Primarily charter schools

B. Statewide – run by state agencies Some charters, some not

C. District / County – run by school districts or county educational offices

Some charters, some not

Watson, Gemin, Ryan & Wicks (2009). Keeping pace with K-12 online learning. http://www.kpk12.com/

http://www.kpk12.com/


Literature Review: Online Learning and Student Achievement

Meta-analysis have found that overall, student achievement in online schools is the same or better when compared with traditional schools

Means et al. (2009), Cavanaugh et al. (2004)

Emerging Research Student success / student attrition in

online courses (Porta-Merida, 2009; Roblyer, 2008)

Student and parent satisfaction in online courses (Butz, 2004)


Methodology: Focus

In California 13% of the total U.S. K-12 public school

student enrollment 20% of the U.S. public charter school

enrollment Top rated state regarding charter school

law and policy

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (2010)


Methodology: Comparison Study

Online charter high school students 14 existed in California – 2006-2009

Traditional high school students Comparisons in:

Growth Rates Achievement Rates Dropout Rates


Methodology: The Subjects Online Charter School Students

10 chosen with grades 9-12 for at least two years

Free and Reduced Price Lunch (FRL) percentage (Range: 30%-50%)

Traditional High School Students 10 chosen Randomly selected by FRL (30%-50%) Geographically different regions


Methodology: Procedures Student test data and dropout data for

selected schools from publicly accessible websites/databases maintained by theCalifornia Department of Education: Ed Data: www.ed-data.k12.ca.us Dataquest: http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest Ed Partnership: http://edresults.org

http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/

http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest

http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest

http://edresults.org/


Methodology: Analysis

Descriptive Statistics Calculated percentage proficient on state

English-Language Arts tests (CST ELA) Calculated dropout percentages Examined trends

Significance Testing Chi square test of independence


Results: California Standards Test /

English-Language Arts (CST ELA)

2007-08 and 2008-09

Taken yearly in grades 9, 10 and 11 Selected Online Charter Schools Selected Traditional Schools


Year: 2007-2008 CST ELA Comparisons

Percent Proficient and Above

Online Charters Traditional Schools

9th 10th 11th

55%

46%

40%

63%

57%55%


9th 10th 11th

56%

48%46%

64%60%

57%


Year: 2008-2009CST ELA Comparisons

Percent Proficient and Above


Chi square test of independence:

Proficient on CST ELA Test 0 = proficient; 1 = not proficient 0 = traditional schools; 1 = online charter Grades 9, 10 and 11 Selected online charter schools vs. selected

traditional schools 2007-08; 2008-09 All statistics were significant at p = <.001


Results: Dropout Rates2006-07 and 2007-08

Reported yearly in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 Selected Online Charter Schools Selected Traditional Schools

Note: Dropout data from 2008-2009 not available


Year: 2006-2007 Dropout Percentages by Grade

Note: 2006-07 Online Charter School Enrollment in Grades 11 and 12 was less than 100 students per grade

9th 10th

2%

6%

0.60%0.90%



Year: 2007-2008 Dropout Percentages by Grade

9th 10th 11th 12th

22%

29%32%

59%

0.70% 0.50% 0.70%4.00%



Chi square test of independence:

Dropout Rates

0 = Not a dropout; 1 = dropout 0 = traditional schools; 1 = online charter Grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 Selected online charter schools vs. selected

traditional schools 2006-07; 2007-08 All statistics were significant at p = <.001


Results: California*

Enrollment in online charter schools has increased each year for the past three years: 80% in past two years

Percent of students in charter high schools: 6% of total 9-12 enrollment

Percent of students in online charter high schools: .16% of total 9-12 enrollment

* See Handout


Results: Achievement and Dropouts

Student Achievement (CST ELA) Greater in traditional high schools than in

online charter schools Percentage difference ranged

from 8% to 11% Dropout Rates

Much greater in online charter schools than in traditional schools

Percentage difference ranged from 22% to 55%


Results: Research Questions 1. Are there a disproportionate number of at-risk

students attending online charter high schools (OCS) as compared to traditional high schools (TS) in California?

Based on percentages of Free and Reduced Lunch students, there are not.

Similar percentages of students are classified as Free and Reduced Lunch in OCS and TS

Based on percentages of dropouts, there are. There were a larger percentage of students who

dropped out of OCS than TS


Results: Research Questions

2. Are at-risk students more successful in online charter high schools (OCS) than in traditional high schools (TS) in California?

Based on percentages of students who scored proficient or above on CST ELA, at-risk students are similarly successful in OCS and TS.

Differences between the percentage of students scoring proficient or above on CST ELA at each grade level showed a difference between 8%-10%


Recommendations Need a uniform way to count online school

students Innovation grants and research grants needed

for online learning in California Common standards for K-12 online learning

should be adopted Ongoing finance model for online schools

needed in California; current school funding finance models don’t fit with online courses


Future Research Study achievement levels of site based

and independent study charter schools compared to traditional schools

Longitudinal qualitative study examining why students attend and/or drop out of online charter schools

Examine why students leave traditional schools and choose to attend online charter schools


Final Reflection Based on My Research

Future students will attend schools that do have online options

Education at all levels (K-12, community college, university) should be designing and offering fully online courses now

Online learning will grow with or without the involvement of traditional schools


Questions?



Finaldefense April2010v10 Web

Education

online schools

online school students18

online charter high

school year

leaves school

high school diplomastandards

public school students

online courses