More formal findings will be released by the end of 1997 by an independent research team at UCLA who are conducting an evaluation of the Charter Schools Initiative and its charter schools. The four-year study is the first national examination of charter schools. It is being conducted by RPP International of Berkeley, California, in partnership with the University of Minnesota and the Institute for Responsive Education. Charter schools are smaller than other public schools. Smaller charter schools are more likely to be newly created schools.
Many charter schools have nontraditional grade patterns.
Nearly all charter schools face implementation problems. On average, charter schools enroll diverse students, but . . . Charter students' racial and ethnic composition varies widely across states. There were too few charter schools in operation in Georgia, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Wisconsin to determine if charter school students are as racially and ethnically diverse as other public school students. Early data suggest that charter school students are as diverse as students in other public schools in Arizona, California, and Colorado, and more diverse than other public school students in Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota.