A project examining the effectiveness of secondary charter schools in the Kansas City, Missouri, School District

This problem-based learning project incorporated policy analysis techniques in an attempt to answer the following question: Have secondary charter schools in the Kansas City, Missouri, School District used their freedom from Missouri state-mandated requirements to develop a more effective system that promotes increased student performance? In order to answer that question, the project focused on an analysis of Missouri charter school legislation passed in 1998 and the characteristics of five secondary charter schools in the Kansas City, Missouri, School District that were in operation from 2001 to 2004.; Performance data from the five secondary charter schools in Kansas City, Missouri were analyzed on the basis of four elements identified in the review of the literature that were considered necessary to encourage more cost effective and innovative educational opportunities and increase student achievement in secondary charter schools in urban school districts. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analyzed in an attempt to answer the question posed in the study.; While the majority of students in the secondary charter schools did not perform as well on the Missouri Assessment Program as did students in the other KCMSD secondary schools, four of the five secondary charter schools had markedly higher rates of graduation and percentages of students who enrolled in two-year or four-year colleges or universities than did other secondary schools in the KCMSD.; The following recommendations were made: (1) Provide a framework for financial management oversight, specifically (a) sponsoring institutions will conduct an annual review of charter school management and operations, (b) require the monthly submission of budgets and financial reports so that charter school management can make timely corrections on projected revenues and expenditures, (c) require charter directors to take a class on school finance or to pass an exam regarding public school practices consistent with the Missouri financial accounting manual as part of the chartering process, and (d) grant sponsoring institutions the authority to intervene and require corrective action other than the authority to extend or revoke the school charter. (2) Amend charter school method of assessing achievement standards.