CSU Fresno Final Defense Presentation

1. Final Dissertation Defense A Comparative Study Between Online Charter High Schools and Traditional High Schoolsin California Rob Darrow April 7, 2010 California State University, Fresno Rob’s Wiki: http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com

2. Welcome, Thank You and Presentation Schedule 20 Min: Rob’s Presentation 10 Min: Committee Questions 10 Min: Other Questions End of Presentation 5-10 Min: Committee Confers Rob’s Wiki: http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com

3. My Dissertation Committee Dr. Ken Magdaleno (Chair) Dept. of Educational Research and Administration Former teacher and middle school principal Interests: Latino and Latina mentoring, leadership, issues of equity Dr. David Tanner Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction Interests: statistics and measurement, educational research, quantitative and qualitative evaluation

4. My Dissertation Committee (cont’d) Dr. Ginny Boris Dept. of Educational Research and Administration Co-Director Central Valley Educational Leadership Institute (CVELI) Interests: Curriculum/Instruction, Admin. Leadership Dr. Brent Auernheimer Dept. of Computer Science Director of CSU Fresno Digital Campus Interests: web based instruction, human computer interaction, software engineering

5. Background – National Trends Two educational trends challenging traditional education: ** Charter Schools ** Enrollment increases 11% - 20% per year ** Online Schools ** Enrollment increases 30% per year

6. One Other National Trend:Static Dropout Rates

7. Research Focus Full Time Online Charter School Students Traditional School Students At-Risk Students In California Measured By: Achievement Test Scores Dropout Rates

8. Research Questions 1. Are there a disproportionate number of at-risk students attending online charter high schools as compared to traditional high schools in California? 2. Are at-risk students more successful in online charter high schools than in traditional high schools in California?

9. Definitions Traditional High School attend courses daily in face-to-face setting Online High School attend courses online where 80% instruction is online Charter School independently operated public schools of choice, free from many regulations but accountable for standardized test results as determined by state laws At-Risk any student not making progress towards graduation Success proficient on California Standards Test/English-Language Arts (CST ELA) lower number of student dropouts

10. Definitions: Counting Dropouts One student counts as a dropout if either: A. Leaves a school and does NOT register at another school OR B. Leaves school and does NOT have a high school diploma Standards set by US Department of Education (reported by states) Counted in Grades 7-12 in California

12. Take one or two online courses in addition to attending traditional school

13. One student in one course per semester counts one

14. Full Time Online Students

15. One student attending the school counts oneWatson, Gemin, Ryan & Wicks (2009). Keeping pace with K-12 online learning.

16. Definitions: Counting Online School EnrollmentNo Standards Part-time online students not officially counted, except as an estimate in response to a researcher’s survey Full time online students counted if they attend an online charter school In California, public school students, including charters, are counted each October via California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS)

17. Literature Review Three parts: 1. Student Dropouts / At-risk Students 2. Charter School Students 3. Online School Students

18. Literature Review: Glass half full or half empty? Dropouts Graduates

19. Literature Review: Data used to determine dropouts or graduates Longitudinal Data Collected by National Center for Educational Statistics (1980, 1988, 1997, 2002) Common Core of Data (CCD) Reported by states to Dept. of ED/NCES (yearly) Current Population Survey Data (CPS) Monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics National Census Report Data Every 10 years

20. Literature Review: Counting High School Dropouts - NCESKetaldi, Laird & KewalJemani (2009) Event Dropout Rate (one school year to next) Downward trendbetween 1972 and 2007 6.1% to 3.5% Status Dropout Rate (one point in time) Downward trendbetween 1972 and 2007 14.6% to 8.7% Status Completion Rate (diploma or GED) Increased completion ratefrom 1980-2007 83.9% to 89%

21. Literature Review: Counting High School Dropouts - NCESKetaldi, Laird & KewalJemani (2009) Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate - AFGR percentage of students who graduated on time within four years Increased graduation ratefrom class of 2002 to class of 2006 72.6% to 73.2%

22. Literature Review: Research and Dropouts “Lack of school success is probably the greatest single cause which impels pupils to drop out of school.” Ayres (1909). Laggards in our schools.

24. Literature Review: Dropout Research Shows More males drop out than females Dalton, Glennie & Ingels (2009) More students living in urban areas drop out Swanson (2008) More African Americans and Hispanics drop out than Anglos and Asians Levin et al. (2007) More students of poverty drop out Dalton, Glennie & Ingels (2009)

25. Literature Review: Dropout Research and What Makes a Difference? Mentor programs or the presence of a significant caring adult can cause at-risk students to remain in school Camak (2007), Rysewyk (2008), Noddings (2005), Outlaw (2004).

26. Literature Review: Charter School History and Policy 1991 – Minnesota: first charter school law 1992 - California passed charter school law 1997-2009 – Every president supports charter school direction. Obama vows to “expand our commitment to charter schools and invest in innovation.” 2009 – 40 stateshave passed charter school laws; 5,042 schoolsserving over 1.5 million students(Allen & Consoletti, 2010)

27. Literature Review: Charter School Development Charter schools have the potential to transform American public education and provide choice to families that did not exist prior to charter schools. Finn, Manno & Vanourek (2000), Nathan (1996)

28. Literature Review: Types of Charter Schools Carpenter (2006). Playing to type? Mapping the charter school landscape.

29. Literature Review: Charter Schools and Student Achievement Some charter schools performing better than traditional public schools, and some performing worse Betts and Yang (2008) Charter schools do not do well in their first year of operation but subsequently improve Zimmer et al. (2009). Rand Report.

31. Literature Review: Online School History and Policy 1994 – 1997 - First K-12 online schools: Utah Electronic School Virtual High School – Massachusetts Florida Virtual School 2007 – Number of states with online programs / online legislation: 42 2007 – Number of online charter schools: 173 in 18 states 92,235 students (Center for Ed Reform, 2008) 2008 – Online course enrollments grew by 65% from 2002-03 to 2004-05 (Means, 2009) 2009 – More than a million K-12 online school students(Picciano and Seaman, 2009)

32. Literature Review: Types of Online Schools A. National Companies– individual online charter schools in different states (K-12, Inc. Connections Academy, Insight, Kaplan) Primarily charter schools B. Statewide– run by state agencies Some charters, some not C. District / County– run by school districts or county educational offices Some charters, some not Watson, Gemin, Ryan & Wicks (2009). Keeping pace with K-12 online learning. http://www.kpk12.com/

33. Literature Review: Online Learning andStudent Achievement Meta-analysis have found that overall, student achievement in online schools is the same or better when compared with traditional schools Means et al. (2009), Cavanaugh et al. (2004) Emerging Research Student success / student attrition in online courses (Porta-Merida, 2009; Roblyer, 2008) Student and parent satisfaction in online courses (Butz, 2004)

34. Methodology: Focus In California 13% of the total U.S. K-12 public school student enrollment 20% of the U.S. public charter school enrollment Top rated state regarding charter school law and policy National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (2010)

35. Methodology: Comparison Study Online charter high school students 14 existed in California – 2006-2009 Traditional high school students Comparisons in: Growth Rates Achievement Rates Dropout Rates

36. Methodology: The Subjects Online Charter School Students 10 chosen with grades 9-12 for at least two years Free and Reduced Price Lunch (FRL) percentage (Range: 30%-50%) Traditional High School Students 10 chosen Randomly selected by FRL (30%-50%) Geographically different regions

37. Methodology: Procedures Student test data and dropout data for selected schools from publicly accessible websites/databases maintained by theCalifornia Department of Education: Ed Data: www.ed-data.k12.ca.us Dataquest: http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest Ed Partnership: http://edresults.org

38. Methodology: Analysis Descriptive Statistics Calculated percentage proficient on state English-Language Arts tests (CST ELA) Calculated dropout percentages Examined trends Significance Testing Chi square test of independence

39. Results: California Standards Test / English-Language Arts (CST ELA)2007-08 and 2008-09 Taken yearly in grades 9, 10 and 11 Selected Online Charter Schools Selected Traditional Schools

40. Year: 2007-2008CST ELA ComparisonsPercent Proficient and Above Online Charters Traditional Schools

41. Year: 2008-2009CST ELA ComparisonsPercent Proficient and Above Online Charters Traditional Schools

42. Chi square test of independence: Proficient on CST ELA Test 0 = proficient; 1 = not proficient 0 = traditional schools; 1 = online charter Grades 9, 10 and 11 Selected online charter schools vs. selected traditional schools 2007-08; 2008-09 All statistics were significant at p = <.001

43. Results: Dropout Rates2006-07 and 2007-08 Reported yearly in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 Selected Online Charter Schools Selected Traditional Schools Note: Dropout data from 2008-2009 not available

44. Year: 2006-2007Dropout Percentages by Grade Note: 2006-07 Online Charter School Enrollment in Grades 11 and 12 was less than 100 students per grade Online Charters Traditional Schools

45. Year: 2007-2008Dropout Percentages by Grade Online Charters Traditional Schools

46. Chi square test of independence: Dropout Rates 0 = Not a dropout; 1 = dropout 0 = traditional schools; 1 = online charter Grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 Selected online charter schools vs. selected traditional schools 2006-07; 2007-08 All statistics were significant at p = <.001

47. Results: California* Enrollment in online charter schools has increased each year for the past three years: 80% in past two years Percent of students in charter high schools: 6% of total 9-12 enrollment Percent of students in online charter high schools: .16% of total 9-12 enrollment * See Handout

48. Results: Achievement and Dropouts Student Achievement (CST ELA) Greater in traditional high schools than in online charter schools Percentage difference ranged from 8% to 11% Dropout Rates Much greater in online charter schools than in traditional schools Percentage difference ranged from 22% to 55%

49. Results: Research Questions 1. Are there a disproportionate number of at-risk students attending online charter high schools (OCS) as compared to traditional high schools (TS) in California? Based on percentages of Free and Reduced Lunch students, there are not. Similar percentages of students are classified as Free and Reduced Lunch in OCS and TS Based on percentages of dropouts, there are. There were a larger percentage of students who dropped out of OCS than TS

50. Results: Research Questions 2. Are at-risk students more successful in online charter high schools (OCS) than in traditional high schools (TS) in California? Based on percentages of students who scored proficient or above on CST ELA, at-risk students are similarly successful in OCS and TS. Differences between the percentage of students scoring proficient or above on CST ELA at each grade level showed a difference between 8%-10%

51. Recommendations Need a uniform way to count online school students Innovation grants and research grants needed for online learning in California Common standards for K-12 online learning should be adopted Ongoing finance model for online schools needed in California; current school funding finance models don’t fit with online courses

52. Future Research Study achievement levels of site based and independent study charter schools compared to traditional schools Longitudinal qualitative study examining why students attend and/or drop out of online charter schools Examine why students leave traditional schools and choose to attend online charter schools

53. Final Reflection Based on My Research Future students will attend schools that do have online options Education at all levels (K-12, community college, university) should be designing and offering fully online courses now Online learning will growwith or without the involvement of traditional schools

54. Questions? Rob’s Wiki: http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com