Evaluation of New Texas Charter Schools: Interim Report (2007-10). Executive Summary

As interest in expanding the number of high quality charter schools available to parents and students has grown, policy makers have increased their focus on identifying and providing support to new charter programs that have the potential to improve student outcomes and satisfy parent and student needs. Since 1994, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) has provided funding for new charter schools through a system of Charter School Program (CSP) grants. CSP funding is available to new charter schools for a period of 3 years, of which no more than 18 months may be used for school planning and design and 2 years may be used to implement the educational program. CSP grants are awarded to state education agencies, which then award funding to approved charter schools through a system of subgrants. As a condition of CSP funding, state education agencies are required to evaluate new charter schools using objective criteria and quantitative and qualitative data (Federal Register, 2007). The Texas Education Agency (TEA) was awarded CSP funding in 2007, and specified that the required evaluation--the Evaluation of New Texas Charter Schools--would focus on the experiences and outcomes of new charter schools authorized to begin serving students across 4 school years: 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2009-10. The evaluation will produce three reports--two interim reports (spring 2009 and fall 2009) and a final report in summer 2010. Across years, the evaluation will answer the following research questions: (1) How are federal start-up funds used to implement new charter school programs?; (2) What processes and practices guide the planning of new charter schools?; (3) What processes and practices guide the implementation of new charter school programs?; (4) How effective are new charter schools at designing and implementing successful educational programs?; (5) How do students at new charter schools perform academically relative to comparable students at traditional district schools?; and (6) What is the effect of charter school maturity on students' academic outcomes? The findings presented here are those of the evaluation's first interim report. Because Generation 13 and 14 charter schools were not serving students in 2007-08, they are not included in the first interim evaluation report (spring 2009). However, Generation 13 charter schools will be included in the second interim report (fall 2009), and all four generations will be included in the evaluation's final repo