Presented poster at Binghamton University's Graduate School of Education's Research Poster Day on how re-segregation in charter schools impact student achievement.

1. Charter Schools: Re-segregation and Its Impact on Student Achievement
Delisa Hamichand
III. METHODS
II. INTRODUCTION
IV. RESULTS
References and Acknowledgements
Almond, Monica (2012). The Black Charter School Effect: Black Students in American Charter Schools. The Journal of
Negro Education, 81(4), 354-365. doi:10.7709/jnegroeducation.81.4.0354
Biegel, S., & Kuehl, S.J. (2010). Safe at school: Addressing the school environment and LGBT safety through policy and
legislation. Boulder, CO: Great Lakes Center. Retrieved from http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/Biegel_LGBT.pdf
Bifulco, R., & Ladd, H. (2007). School Choice, Racial Segregation, and Test-Score Gaps: Evidence from North
Carolina's Charter School Program. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26(1), 31-56. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/30164084
Chingos, M. M., & West, M. R. (2015). The Uneven Performance of Arizona’s Charter Schools. Educational Evaluation and
Policy Analysis,3(1S), 120S-134S. Doi:10.3102/0162373715576077
Cowen, J., & Winters, M. (2013). Choosing Charters: Who Leaves Public School as an Alternative Sector
Expands? Journal of Education Finance,38(3), 210-229. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/
23354864
Du Bois, W.E. B. (1935). Does the negro need separate schools? Journal of Negro Education, 4(3), 328–335.
Eckes, S., & Plucker, J. (2013). Segregation in charter schools: The important role of university-based authorizers.
Journal of Education and Urban Society, 45(5), 589–608.
Judson, E. (2014). Effects of Transferring to STEM-Focused Charter and Magnet Schools on Student Achievement. The
Journal of Educational Research,107(4), 255-266. doi:10.1080/00220671.2013.823367
Kana'iaupuni, S. (2008). He Pūko's Kani 'Āina: Mapping Student Growth in Hawaiian-focused Charter
Schools. Journal of American Indian Education, 47(3), 31-52. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2439876
Scott, J., & Villavicencio, A. (2009). School Context and Charter School Achievement: A Framework for Understanding the
Performance "Black Box" Peabody Journal of Education, 84(2), 227-243. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/
stable/25594838
Wilson, T. S. (2016). Contesting the Public School: Reconsidering Charter Schools as Counterpublics. American
Educational Research Journal,53(4), 919-952. doi:10.3102/0002831216658972
V. CONCLUSIONS
I. ABSTRACT
Re-segregation
Re-segregation on Student
Achievement
Bifulco, R., & Ladd, H. (2007). School Choice, Racial Segregation, and Test-Score Gaps: Evidence from
North Carolina's Charter School Program. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26(1), 31-56.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30164083
This literature review argues that the charter school movement has
promoted re-segregation for decades and because of the many facets
involved in re-segregation such as and not limited to parent choice
based on parent level of education and individual charter schools’
mission, re-segregation in charter schools causes the increase in
student achievement for middle and upper classes, while lower
income and minority students underperform. Thus, this review
examines some of the literature from the past decade that showcases
how re-segregation has a major impact on student achievement.
Minnesota was the first state to approve a charter school and
Minnesota’s law states that “a charter school’s purpose is to enhance
students’ learning opportunities and achievement, improve teaching
opportunities and methods, or improve school accountability measures.”
Through reading over a decade of charter schools articles, it was
evident that charter schools were created to be another form of public
school. Although, the charter school system has many facets that raises
controversial topics, I focused on re-segregation and its impact on
student achievement. Charter schools have become an outlet for
“creaming” which means white students attend a certain charter school
and black students attend another charter school which has resulted in a
retreat of the civil rights movement—allowing re-segregation to re-occur
in America’s public schools. Re-segregation can be determined on the
basis of race, class, and language.
W.E.B Du Bois in “Does the Negro Need Separate Schools?” (1935)
argued that “Negroes are not welcomed in public schools and
universities nor treated as fellow human beings” (p. 333). Several
researchers in the past decade have discovered a similar problem
existing with the charter school movement. Charter schools that are pre-
dominantly white tend to have white students and charter schools that
are pre-dominantly black tend to have black students. However, the
division in these are based on many factors but I will focus on: parent
choice based on parent level of education and individual charter schools’
mission. These categorical divisions influence student performance
because lower income and minority parents choose schools that are
lower income and minority-based, while white, middle and upper class
parents choose charter schools that are better funded and more
prepared to help their students receive empowering education.
“Creaming” or re-segregation of charter schools influence how students
perform and because minority students are attending lower income
schools, they have very few resources available compared to white,
middle and upper classes and as a result they underperform.
Evidence of “Creaming”
Bifulco, R., & Ladd, H. (2007). School Choice, Racial
Segregation, and Test-Score Gaps: Evidence from North
Carolina's Charter School Program. Journal of Policy
Analysis and Management, 26(1), 31-56. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/30164083
Eckes, S., & Plucker, J. (2013). Segregation in
charter schools: The important role of university-
based authorizers. Journal of Education and
Urban Society, 45(5), 589–608.
• “Creaming” in charter schools has continued for over a decade
• Bifulco and Ladd studied charter schools in 2002 and it was clear that the
52.7% white students vs. 44.1% black students in North Carolina charter
schools suggest that charter schools became a sector for white students
• Eckes and Plucker’s (2013) studied the policies of 33 charter schools in 9
states with university authorizers to test for diversity in acceptance policies
• They found that only 5 charter schools directly addressed diversity in
policies
Parent Choice Based on Parent Level of Education
Wilson, T. S. (2016). Contesting the Public School: Reconsidering Charter
Schools as Counterpublics. American Educational Research Journal,53(4),
919-952. doi:10.3102/0002831216658972
Bifulco, R., & Ladd, H. (2007). School Choice, Racial Segregation, and Test-Score Gaps: Evidence from
North Carolina's Charter School Program. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26(1), 31-56.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30164083
• Choice comes down to parent level of education and parent network
• The parents in Wilson’s study have high school level or less than high school level of education—
they selected Bari Academy which is a failing school
• Bifulco and Ladd demonstrated that families without four year degrees selected charter schools
where less than 30% of the students have college educated parents
• Students who have college educated parents, selected school which 60% of the students have
college educated parents
• Parent level of education determines which schools students attend and it re-constructs re-segregation
in American Society because students tend to end up in schools with other students who look much like
them
Individual Charter Schools’ Mission
Wilson, T. S. (2016). Contesting the Public School: Reconsidering Charter Schools as
Counterpublics. American Educational Research Journal,53(4), 919-952.
doi:10.3102/0002831216658972
Mission 1: Bari Academy Mission 2: Hawaiian-focused Charter
Schools
Kana'iaupuni, S. (2008). He Pūko's Kani 'Āina: Mapping Student Growth in Hawaiian-focused
Charter Schools. Journal of American Indian Education, 47(3), 31-52. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/24398767
Debunking Segregating Missions
Eckes S. (2015). Haven charter schools: Separate by design and legally questionable. Equity and
Excellence in Education, 48(1), 49-70.
1. Read charter school studies conducted for several decades
2. Narrowed search down to the last decade (2007-2017)
3. Discovered several facets that makes the discussion of charter
schools a very controversial topic (innovation, re-segregation,
online charter schools, student achievement, parent choice, etc.)
4. Charter schools were formed in order to increase student
achievement and discovered that re-segregation had a direct link
to the underperformance of some students and the increased
performance of others
5. Linked parent level of education and school’s mission to the
underperformance of minority students and increased
performance of white students
• The similarity between Bari Academy and Hawaiian-focused charter schools is that they are culture-based and language focused in order to align culture with academics in mainstream
America
• They are schools seeking to provide the maintenance of cultural identity while immersing students in mainstream
• Eckes argues that segregating students based on race, culture, ethnicity, language barriers, goes against the basic principles of public education
Evidence 1 Evidence 2
Almond, Monica (2012). The Black Charter School Effect: Black Students in American Charter Schools. The Journal of Negro
Education, 81(4), 354-365. doi:10.7709/jnegroeducation.81.4.0354
Kana'iaupuni, S. (2008). He Pūko's Kani 'Āina: Mapping Student Growth in Hawaiian-focused Charter
Schools. Journal of American Indian Education, 47(3), 31-52. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/24398767
Evidence 3• Notice that for racially
segregated moves, the
student achievement drops
in both math and reading
• Charter schools that are at-
risk, it is evident that student
performance also falters in
both reading and math
• Implies that segregation has
an impact on how students
perform
• Segregation by choice and
segregating into school that
are failing influences student
achievement on a long term
basis
• Almond focused on charter schools
in California, Illinois,
Massachusetts, North Carolina and
New York
• They used the Center for Research
and Educational Outcomes
(CREDO) to acquire data
• Discovered that in some states,
black students in charter schools
performed better in math and
reading compared to some other
charter schools in different states
• Almond arrived at the conclusion
that black students perform “worse
than, same as or better than peers”
in traditional public schools
• Almond found that by 2012,charter
schools were being mostly
populated• Kana'iaupuni, studied 8th grade students who
transferred to charter schools from traditional
public schools
• Discovered that by 10th grade, students
experienced gains in both math and reading
• However, these schools were still not meeting the
state’s yearly student-testing requirement
• Re-segregation is influenced by many different factors:
• Creaming not just by parents but by educational institutions influence segregation
• Parent level of education is another factor that complements choice. Minority parents
without four year degrees tend to choose failing or underperforming schools while
parents with four year degrees which tend to be white parents, choose better
performing schools
• School missions also serve as an important factor that promotes re-segregation in
America’s schools and because some charter schools are created to appeal to certain
student demographics, schools are creaming based on their admission policies
• Re-segregation impacts student achievement for minority students negatively
• Although this cannot be one hundred percent proven, several studies that have been
conducted demonstrate that re-segregation of minority and middle and upper class
students works in the benefit of middle and upper class students—they attend charter
schools that are better performing school
• Re-segregation is a retract on the civil rights movement
• Eckes presents several court cases that have ruled against grouping students into
schools based on race, ethnicity, language, class or any other categories
• Re-segregation threatens the laws such as Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) which
deemed separate schools for different groups of people as unconstitutional
• Charter schools are public schools and they should accept a diverse student population
• Charter school mission should be to serve all student demographic because they are a
sector of public education
Discussion Questions
1. Many parents and districts are choosing to open charter schools that are culturally-
focused and race-focused, how can we determine that it is unacceptable for white
parents to do the same?
2. Do we need to re-define public education in order to fit the changing missions of
charter schools?