Charter Schools After Three Decades - Part 1 - Reviewing the Research on School Organizational and Instructional Conditions

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca

Charter school policies aim to strengthen autonomy, innovation, and accountability to drive improvements in curriculum, instruction, and learning and thereby enhance student outcomes. Most charter school research, however, overlooks how organizational structure and instructional conditions shape practice within schools. Reviews indicate inconsistent impacts on student achievement, masking heterogeneous effects across charter types, operators, authorizers, and differing organizational and instructional settings. This systematic literature review synthesizes evidence on organizational arrangements and key resources and closes by identifying research gaps.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages30

Reading Time1 h 16 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Policy focus and research gap

Findings on achievement effects

Scope of the systematic review

Resources, practices, and research gaps

| education policy analysis archives
A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal | | | --- | --- | | Arizona State University | | | Volume 31 Number 1 January 17 , 2023 ISSN 1068-2341 | | Charter Schools After Three Decades: Reviewing the Research on School Organizational and Instructional Conditions1 Julie W. Dallavis & Mark Berends2 University of Notre Dame United States Citation: Dallavis, J. W., & Berends, M. (2022) . Charter schools after three decades: Reviewing the research on school organizational and instructional conditions. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31(1). [https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7634](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7634) Abstract: Charter school policies have focused on improving three aspects of schools—autonomy, innovation, and accountability—with the intention of promoting advances in curriculum, instruction, and learning that lead to better student outcomes. However, most research on charter schools tends to neglect school organizational and instructional 1 This paper was supported by the Center for Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington and by the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity (CREO) and the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame. All opinions expressed in this paper represent those of the authors and not necessarily the institutions with which they are affiliated. All errors in this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors. 2 Author order determined at random; each author contributed equally to this paper. conditions. Overall, reviews show that charter schools have inconsistent effects on student achievement scores, a finding that masks heterogeneous effects among different types of charter schools, operators of charter schools, and authorizers of charter schools and the organizational and instructional conditions under which they operate. This systematic review of the literature focuses on what we know about the organization of charter schools and theresources—material, human, and social as well as professional development and teaching practices—within them. We end by identifying gaps where more research is needed. Keywords: charter schools; school effectiveness; school organization; education policy; instructional practices; learning environments Escuelas chárter después de tres décadas: Revisión de la investigación sobre la organización escolar y la instrucción Resumen: Las políticas de las escuelas chárter se han centrado en mejorar tres aspectos delas escuelas: autonomía, innovación y responsabilidad, con la intención de promover avancesen el currículo, la instrucción y el aprendizaje que conduzcan a mejores resultados para los estudiantes. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las investigaciones sobre las escuelas chárter tiendena descuidar las condiciones organizativas y de instrucción de las escuelas. En general, las revisiones muestran que las escuelas chárter tienen efectos inconsistentes en los puntajes derendimiento de los estudiantes, un hallazgo que oculta los efectos heterogéneos entre los diferentes tipos de escuelas chárter, los operadores de las escuelas chárter y los autorizadores de las escuelas chárter y las condiciones organizacionales y de instrucción bajo las cuales operan. Esta revisión sistemática de la literatura se centra en lo que sabemos sobre la organización de las escuelas chárter y los recursos (materiales, humanos y sociales, así como el desarrollo profesional y las prácticas docentes) dentro de ellas. Terminamos identificandobrechas donde se necesita más investigación. Palabras-clave: escuelas chárter; eficacia escolar; organización escolar ; política educativa; prácticas de instrucción; entornos de aprendizaje Escolas charter depois de três décadas: Revisando a pesquisa sobre organizaçãoescolar e ensino Resumo: As políticas de escolas charter têm se concentrado em melhorar três aspectos das escolas – autonomia, inovação e re

FAQs

What three areas do charter school policies typically target?

Policies focus on autonomy, innovation, and accountability, intending to improve curriculum, instruction, and learning to benefit student outcomes.

Why do existing studies show inconsistent effects on achievement?

Reviews report inconsistent achievement effects that conceal heterogeneous impacts across charter school types, operators, authorizers, and the organizational and instructional conditions under which schools operate.

What does the systematic review concentrate on?

It reviews what is known about the organization of charter schools and the resources inside them, including material, human, and social resources, professional development, and teaching practices, and it identifies gaps for further research.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca