Outside California, the average size is about 140 students. Many charter schools start small with plans to expand as they become more established, while others have been purposely designed as small schools to provide more individualized instruction. In 1995, ECS and the Center for School Change surveyed 110 charter schools nationwide and asked their operators to describe their school's focus. Although charter school opponents often question whether these schools are elitist or likely to serve primarily affluent white students, strong data demonstrate that overall, charter schools serve equal or higher numbers of minority students than other public schools in their states. Individual charter schools do not always reflect this diversity.
Research regarding the economic background of their students is less clear.
The 1995 ECS report found that charter schools in Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota served higher proportions of African American and Native American students than the states' traditional public schools, and an equal proportion of Hispanic students. And although serving at-risk students rarely was a primary goal, half of the respondents said their schools included such children. While several researchers are currently examining the level and quality of innovations in charter schools, a recent survey of charter schools in California found considerably higher levels of innovation in such areas as instruction, governance, parental involvement, assessment, grouping, and scheduling than in traditional public schools. Most states do not give charter schools as much money as they do traditional public schools, nor do they provide planning money to potential charter applicants. Approved charter schools often lack credit and start-up funds.