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School innovation in district context: Comparing traditional public schools and charter schools

Author

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  • Preston, Courtney
  • Goldring, Ellen
  • Berends, Mark
  • Cannata, Marisa

Abstract

Market reforms in education are part of the educational policy landscape in many countries. Central to arguments for market reforms is the idea that competition and choice will spur changes in schools to be more innovative, which in turn will lead to better student outcomes. We define innovation in terms of a practice's relative prevalence in a local district context. A charter school is innovative in its use of a practice if the traditional public schools in its local school district are not using that practice. We explore factors based on arguments for charter schools that may affect a charter schools’ propensity toward innovation to explain variation in levels of innovation across charter schools. We find that, on the whole, charter schools do not fulfill their promise of innovation. Teacher tenure is the most notable exception. Parental involvement is the only characteristic of charter schools that significantly predicts variation in levels of organizational innovativeness.

Suggested Citation

  • Preston, Courtney & Goldring, Ellen & Berends, Mark & Cannata, Marisa, 2012. "School innovation in district context: Comparing traditional public schools and charter schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 318-330.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:31:y:2012:i:2:p:318-330
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2011.07.016
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Geske, Terry G. & Davis, Douglas R. & Hingle, Patricia L., 1997. "Charter Schools: A Viable Public School Choice Option?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 15-23, February.
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    4. Glomm, Gerhard & Harris, Douglas & Lo, Te-Fen, 2005. "Charter school location," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 451-457, August.
    5. Ben R. Martin & Paul Nightingale (ed.), 2000. "The Political Economy of Science, Technology and Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1660.
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    Cited by:

    1. Balsa, Ana & Cid, Alejandro, 2014. "Advancing academic opportunities for disadvantaged youth: third year impact evaluation of a privately-managed school in a poor neighborhood in Montevideo," MPRA Paper 59961, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Cid, Alejandro & Balsa, Ana, 2012. "Impact Evaluation of a Privately Managed Tuition-Free Middle school in a Poor Neighborhood in Montevideo," MPRA Paper 39913, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Toma, Eugenia & Zimmer, Ron, 2012. "Two decades of charter schools: Expectations, reality, and the future," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 209-212.
    4. Kim, Youngran, 2018. "Privatization and school practices: Evidence from Seoul’s high school choice policy," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 322-332.
    5. Ana Balsa & Alejandro Cid & Ana Laura Zardo, 2022. "Providing academic opportunities to vulnerable adolescents: a randomised evaluation of privately managed tuition-free middle schools in Uruguay," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 340-379, October.

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    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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