Taking Measure of Charter Schools ─ Better Assessments, Better Policymaking, Better Schools

Betts (economics, U. of California, San Diego) and Hill (Center on Reinventing Public Education, U. of Washington Bothell) compile 11 essays by education and economics scholars from the US who look at ways to measure the success of charter schools. The book is a result of an initiative by the National Charter School Research Project to review research and suggest ways parents, educators, and policy makers can assess charter school performance. Chapters consider how to improve estimates of performance, especially their benefits to students, and how policy makers can learn more about charter schools and make better use of evidence. They address achievement results, nontest outcomes, existing studies of achievement, selectivity bias, lotteries, maturation, data on teachers, state studies, the political uses of research, and ways to improve the quality of data. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Julian R. Betts is professor of economics and chair of the Department of Economics at the University of California, San Diego. He also serves as a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and an adjunct fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). He is also a member of the National Charter School Research Project's Charter School Achievement Consensus Panel. Paul T. Hill is the John and Marguerite Corbally Professor at the University of Washington Bothell and Director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. He also chairs the National Charter School Research Project and leads its Charter School Achievement Consensus Panel, which authored the influential paper, Key Issues in Studying Charter Schools and Achievement: A Review and Suggestions for National Guidelines (May 2006).