UW-Madison to study charter schools

The La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW–Madison has been awarded a $650,000 federal grant to study how well charters schools are working in Wisconsin.

The large range of educational choices available to Milwaukee families, compared with the smaller set of choices for other districts, sets up “a natural experiment” for research in the state, says John Witte, director of the La Follette School and principal researcher for the project.

The two-year study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, is expected to provide information on the role of competition in education and its effects on student achievement and educational efficiency.

“This study will help us understand the effects of high levels and low levels of educational choice on charter schools and, in turn, what effects charter schools have on traditional public schools,” Witte says.

“By studying charter schools across the state, we will learn a great deal about they work in Wisconsin and their performance relative to public schools,” Witte says. “We will also gain an understanding of the effects of competition on the initiation, performance and competitive linkages between charters, traditional public schools and other types of choice schools.”

Witte has broad experience on the topic. He was appointed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction as the state’s evaluator of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program from 1990-95. He also was appointed in 1984-85 by then-Gov. Anthony Earl as the executive director of the Study Commission on the Quality of Education in Milwaukee Public Schools.

Political science professors David Weimer, also of La Follette, and William Howell will assist Witte. Additional support will come from the Public Policy Forum of Milwaukee.

The researchers expect to collect data from state, district and school level sources. The data will include student demographics, state achievement tests in five subjects at the fourth, eighth and tenth grade level, as well as information on student behavior and discipline. In addition, they expect to do in-depth studies of at least 30 charter schools to learn what happens in different competitive environments.

Support and endorsement for the grant application came from several sources, including the Wisconsin Charter Schools Association, Wisconsin Schools Superintendent Libby Burmaster, the city of Milwaukee and Nancy Zimpher, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
# # #