Charter schools in California, New York, and Washington state show standing capacity to adapt. New research on charter schools’ reveals a larger story of how education policy at large can contribute in positive ways to strengthening outcomes for public school students.

1. Charter Schools'
Responses to
the Pandemic
in California, New York,
and Washington State
February 2022

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
G i r a r d F o u n d a t i o n
R e s e a r c h I n s t i t u t e o f t h e S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y o f N e w Yo r k
C u l l e n F o u n d a t i o n
C a l i f o r n i a C h a r t e r S c h o o l A s s o c i a t i o n
Wa s h i n g t o n C h a r t e r S c h o o l A s s o c i a t i o n
N e w Yo r k C h a r t e r S c h o o l s A s s o c i a t i o n
A - P l u s A s s o c i a t i o n o f P e r s o n a l i z e d L e a r n i n g S c h o o l s a n d
S e r v i c e s

3. Introduction
q Charter Schools have more operating discretion
q COVID presented the same challenges to both sectors
q CREDO has a strong history of research on charter schools
Research q u est i o n s:
• How did charter schools respond to the pandemic?
• What does the response indicate about the way
charters use the discretion they hold?
• What does the response say about the charter bargain?

4. Project Approach
q Online surveys sent to all charter schools in CA, NY and WA
qNY Charters surveyed June 2020 and May 2021
qWA and CA charters surveyed May 2021
qSurvey included some of the questions from the June 2020 survey about the
2020 period
qNeed to consider the possibility of recall error, but the actual responses look
similar
q Descriptive analysis of pooled responses
q Descriptive analysis by state

5. xt
Survey Completion Rates
Number of
Charter Schools in
the State
Number of
Charter Schools
Completing
Survey
Response Rate
Number of
Students
Enrolled in
Schools
Completing
Survey
California 1,351 285 21% 123,861
New York 354 226 64% 99,785
Washington State 13 13 100% 3,553

6. xt
Student Demographics
State
Charter
Schools in
State
Charter
Schools
in Survey
State
Charter
Schools
in State
Charter
Schools
in Survey
% Black & Hispanic % Free & Reduced Lunch
California 60 60 61 60 59 62
New York 44 90 86 57 79 74
Washington State 49 59 59 45 54 54
% Students with Disabilities % English Language Learners
California 13 11 11 18 14 17
New York 18 19 18 10 8 7
Washington State 14 14 14 12 13 13

7. tet
78
38
N/A
What were the most important priorities
reported by schools?

8. Physical Closure and Online Reopening
Charters and Districts
The surveyed charter schools were able to transform to remote
education delivery in less than a week.
q Washington State schools made the quickest pivot (2 days);
California schools took the longest (4 days).
District schools were slower to shift, but caught up, and surpassed
on breadth of services and equity of access.
q According to EdWeek- By March 25th, 2020, less than 40% of teachers had
contact with their students and there was a stark disparity across poverty
levels.
q The Center on Reinventing Education found that nearly 70 percent of
districts nationally were not providing instruction in Spring 2020

9. xt
Changes in Instructional Modes: 2020 and 2021
Percentage Distribution In 2020-21
Numbers in 2019-2020
Indicating Instruction
Mode
Other In-Person Hybrid Remote Closed
Other 23 57% 0 22% 22% 0
In-Person 4 0 25% 75% 0 0
Hybrid 78 1% 3% 51% 45% 0
Remote 366 1% 0 47% 51% 0
Closed 1 0 0 100% 0 0
Number of Schools in
2020-2021
29 9 210 224 0

10. Changes in Instructional Modes: 2020 and 2021
April 2020 February 2021

11. Changes to School Calendars for 2020-21 School Year
(values are percentages of schools responding)
59
31
16 13
68
26
11
17
50
36
20
10
43
57
14
0
Shortened
School Day
Other Calendar
Changes
Started SY20
Late
Extended School
Day
Overall California New York Washington State
January – March 2020
• 30% shortened school day
• 20% decreased # of school days
• 17% reduced instructional
minutes
• 15% cut non-core courses
District Action

12. Measuring Attendance: 2020-2021
38
46
62
1
17
7
23
36
52
8
21
32
46
1
12
14
25
34
49
Number of Log-ins per
Week
Log-ins to At Least Half
Daily classes
Completing Assigned
Work
Other
One Log-in per Day
Met Standard for Daily
Interactions
Overall California
New York Washington State
q By May 2020, 30% of districts used an
attendance tracking system
q 70% of schools required daily
touchpoints (RAND)
q 74% of charter schools and 47% of
districts expected teachers to provide
instruction
q 37% of charter schools expected real-
time learning, compared with 22% of
districts
District Action

13. Changes to Academic Program: Overall
2019-20 2020-21
Drop Courses 12% 22%
Adjust Course Goals 75% 0%
Pausing Delivery 19% N/A
Modify Pre-requisites for Future Courses 5% 0%
Modify Graduation Requirements 13% 18%
Modify Promotion Requirements 44% 40%
Reduced Course Content N/A 55%

14. Changes to Academic Program: California
2019-20 2020-21
Drop Courses 11% 20%
Adjust Course Goals 80% 0%
Pausing Delivery 21% N/A
Modify Pre-requisites for Future Courses 4% 0%
Modify Graduation Requirements 14% 12%
Modify Promotion Requirements 29% 22%
Reduced Course Content N/A 61%

15. Changes to Academic Program: New York
2019-20 2020-21
Drop Courses 13% 23%
Adjust Course Goals 68% 0%
Pausing Delivery 15% N/A
Modify Pre-requisites for Future Courses 6% 0%
Modify Graduation Requirements 12% 26%
Modify Promotion Requirements 65% 59%
Reduced Course Content N/A 49%

16. Changes to Academic Program: Washington State
2019-20 2020-21
Drop Courses 0% 42%
Adjust Course Goals 89% 0%
Pausing Delivery 44% N/A
Modify Pre-requisites for Future Courses 22% 0%
Modify Graduation Requirements 11% 8%
Modify Promotion Requirements 44% 33%
Reduced Course Content N/A 50%

17. Percentage of the Curriculum Covered in
the 2019-20 School Year
60
52
71
77
82
84
66
75
80
82
86
87
69
68
77
77
84
85
67
70
78
80
85
86
Foreign Language
Fine Arts
Science
History-Social
Studies
Math
English Language
Arts
Overall California New York Washington

18. Percentage of Schools Reporting Decreases in
Learning Time: Spring 2020

19. Decreases in Learning Time in School Year 2020-21
Relative to School
41 41
17
35 40 42
34 34
17 13 17 11 7 9 6 5
PhysEd Fine Arts Coding Foreign
Language
History-Social
Studies
Science Math ELA
Decrease Significant Decrease

20. School leader estimates of considerable or major
academic losses
43
39
49
32
19 16
22
10
Overall CA NY WA
Considerable or Major Loss Major Loss

21. Inferences
Charter term /
renewal pressure
Continuous
Improvement
Standing Capacity
to Adapt
Rapid and Effective
COVID Response

22. THANK YOU