ABSTRACT
The charter school movement will soon celebrate its 20-year anniversary as a nationwide school reform. Since 1992, when Minnesota opened the fi rst charter school, the number of charter schools across the United States has increased exponentially. In 1994, as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Congress created and funded the Public Charter School Program (PCSP) to promote the growth of charter schools (Gleason, Clark, Tuttle, Dwoyer, 2010). Since that time, researchers have struggled to decisively ascertain the overall impact of charter schools on student achievement. Large-and small-scale research studies have shown varied results with regard to the success or failure of charter schools in fulfi lling the promise of creating better, more successful schools for children in the United States.
