A Census of All Specialized Charter School Foci and Models

Abstract

ABSTRACT We seek to build a framework with which researchers can track the trends in charter school specialization and parents can better understand their options. This report examines the entire charter school population operating in the 2018–19 school year and calculates the rate of specialization among charter schools based on key terms found on their websites and marketing materials. For the purposes of this paper, we defined a “focus” as a deliberate form of specialization. We categorized charter schools’ foci into three categories. Schools with a “curricular focus,” utilize a specialized core curriculum beyond the standard history, science, ELA, and math. Schools with a “pedagogical focus,” utilize a specialized method of teaching. Lastly, schools with a “student body focus,” serve a nonstandard student body. Within these three categories of foci, we identified nine unique curricular foci, eleven pedagogical foci, and five student body foci. Because many schools have multiple foci across the three categories, we considered the complete combination of a school’s specialized foci to be their “model.” We found a total of 68 specialized models. In total, roughly two thirds of all charter schools use a specialized model of some sort. The top specialized models were single-focus models: “Personalized Learning” (389), “High Expectations” (370), “STEM” (368), “Classical” (257), and “Art” (223). We provide a comprehensive list of all school models, their definitions, and other relevant information in this report.