Charter School Operations and Performance: Evidence from California

The report analyzes an array of issues pertaining to accessibility, student achievement, governance, and operation of charter schools in California. Four specific research questions were investigated: (1) What population of students attends charter schools? (2) Is student achievement higher in charter schools than in conventional public schools? (3) What oversight and support do the chartering authorities provide? (4) How do charter schools differ from their conventional public school counterparts in terms of their operation, including finances, academic achievement, and staffing?

Ron W. Zimmer (Ph.D, University of Kentucky, Martin School of Public Policy and Administration) is an associate policy analysis at RAND.

Brian P. Gill (Ph.D. Jurisprudence and Social Policy: University of California, Berkeley) is an associate policy analyst in Civil Justice and Education at RAND.

Laura S. Hamilton (Ph.D., Educational Psychology, Stanford University) is an associate behavioral scientist at RAND.

Cathy S. Krop (Ph.D., Public Policy Analysis, RAND Graduate School) is an associate policy analyst at RAND.

Daniel McCafferty (Ph.D., Statistics, North Carolina State University) is a statistician at RAND.

Dominic Brewer (Ph.D., Labor Economics, Cornell University) is the Director of RAND Education.