The civic side of American charter schools

Abstract

There is a notable cross-national effort to incorporate market-based policies in education. This article examines one such context, the United States (US). Specifically, we examine the civic side of American charter schools through a human capital lens. Comparison of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Civics grade 8 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 restricted use data provided awareness of micro-level factors related to youth civic knowledge and skill acquisition. Analyses of multiple testing cycles helped further identify patterns and relationships over time that are essential in understanding variations in civic learning across periods and school types. Results indicated that American charter schools demonstrated higher average civic performance scores for most of the testing cycles than traditional public schools. Black and Hispanic American charter and private school students demonstrate higher civic performance levels. Key factors such as teacher time spent on civics instruction and teacher credentials are not necessarily correlated with higher civic scores. Though these differences should be interpreted with caution, the findings have implications for market-based education policies writ large, specifically for charter and charter-like schools in the global north and south.