Charter School Safety

A new report from the National Charter School Research Project finds that urban public charter schools appear to be safer and experience fewer discipline problems than their traditional public school counterparts. Analyzing data from the 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), author Jon Christensen found that charter schools consistently reported significantly fewer issues with threats to persons or property and fewer behavioral problems than traditional public schools.

The working paper uses data from both teachers and principals in urban schools to compare the frequency of vandalism, gang activity, weapon possession, threats of physical abuse, classroom disorder, disrespect for teachers, verbal abuse of teachers, student racial tensions, and use of alcohol or illegal drugs. While both charter and traditional public schools experience issues in each category, the incidence of trouble was reported with lower frequency in charters.

Christensen said his analysis does not reveal why charter schools report lower rates of problems. With the exception of imposing student dress codes and requiring uniforms, he said, both charter and traditional public schools report similar policies with regard to safety.

Charter schools covered by the survey served similar proportions of elementary versus older students, had higher proportions of minority students, slightly higher proportions of students qualifying for free/reduced-price lunch, and tended to be considerably smaller, serving an average of 560 students compared to 900 in traditional public schools. However, it is not possible to say from this analysis whether differences in safety are due to school size, the students enrolled, teacher and family attitudes, or some other factors.

Many families choose charter schools in part to escape what they perceive as dangerous inner-city schools. This study is the first attempt to learn whether charter schools are actually safer, said Robin Lake, director of the National Charter School Research Project. Based on our analysis, there is good reason to look more carefully at what charter schools may be doing to create a safer environment for urban students.

Lydia Ryan works with the National Charter School Research Project at the University of Washington.