Özet:

In this study, the extent to which charter schools could be differentiated from non-charter elementary, middle, and high schools in Texas was investigated. Statewide archival data from the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System were obtained on all Texas public schools, charter and non-charter, for the 2010-2011 school year. Canonical stepwise discriminant analyses were conducted to determine whether specific school characteristics (i.e., Percent of Full-Time Beginning Teachers, Percent of Black Student Enrollment, Percent of Student Enrollment Who Were Economically Disadvantaged, Mobility Rate, Percent of Disciplinary Alternative Education Program Placements, Percent of Hispanic Student Enrollment, Percent of Bilingual/English Enrollment, Percent of Limited English Proficient Student Enrollment, and Percent of Students Who Were At-Risk) could differentiate charter from non-charter schools at each campus level. All three canonical stepwise discriminant function analyses were statistically significant. The canonical functions provided strong differentiation in the school characteristics between charter and non-charter schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Of interest is that the school characteristic that most strongly discriminated between charter and non-charter schools was the percentage of full-time beginning teachers. Implications of our results are discussed.

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