An exploration of the relationships among epistemological beliefs, educational values, political orientation, demographics, and attitude toward charter school enrollment

The author investigated three areas. First, the relationships among individuals' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowledge acquisition (epistemological beliefs), the standards or qualities individuals considered worthwhile or desirable in public education (educational values), agreement with a Libertarian versus a Totalitarian political orientation, demographics, and attitude toward charter school enrollment were examined. Second, attitude of noncharter parents toward charter school enrollment was examined in relation to the same variables. Third, differences between noncharter and charter school parents were measured on the same variables. Seventy-nine noncharter school parents and 75 charter school parents completed the Epistemic Beliefs Inventory, the Educational Values Questionnaire, the Libertarianism-Totalitarianism Scale, and demographic items. Positive correlations were found between a number of variables in the study. Results from the ordinal logistic regression analysis indicated that a stronger belief in quick learning predicted a greater level of interest in charter school enrollment. Ordinal logistic regression analysis also indicated that a stronger belief in fixed ability predicted significantly less interest in charter school enrollment. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated significant differences between charter and noncharter parents on the variable certain knowledge, quick learning, fixed ability, and equity. Noncharter parents were more likely to believe that knowledge is certain, the ability to learn is fixed, and that equity is the most important value in public education. Charter parents were more likely to believe that learning occurs quickly or not-at-all rather than gradually. This study addresses some of the underlying themes in the debate over charter schools in a systematic way. The development of a preliminary survey tool for measuring educational values was also an important contribution of this study.