User:Elizabethgaribay58/sandbox

1.Very clearly tell me the topic you have chosen below.

My topic is Charter Schools in the United States, I want to expand to the section “State-specific structure and regulations” as well as add any California specific studies.

2. Regarding your chosen topic, what is your impression of the content currently available on Wikipedia? Why do you feel that you need to contribute this content? Are you creating a new page, fixing a pre-existing page, or adding to a pre-existing page, or something else?

Well the current Wikipedia page says it “has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality.” And yes reading it, the case to why charter schools are better than public schools could be more dominant. I feel like I need to contribute to this page because some parents could be on the edge about changing their child to a charter school and this page could be their deciding factor. I want them to be as informed as possible and have this page as a neutral overview.  

3. Describe the current state of the content on Wikipedia. Link me to what is there so I can see as well. If there is nothing available, what keywords and phrases have you tried?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_schools_in_the_United_States#Caroline_Hoxby_studies

The current state of the page, as mentioned earlier is a bit biased. The “criticism” heading font size is even smaller for one of the studies that supports charter schools. I do not know if that is because it is a subheading, but I was a little skeptical about that. Overall, it is lacking more information.  

4. What needs to be done to create change for this topic? If you are creating something brand new, what sections do you envision it having?

The “State-specific structure and regulations” section needs to be expanded. I also think that some of the studies mentioned need more explaining, like the “Caroline Hoxby studies” I would like to search more about it and see what I can add. Also throughout the page citations are needed.

Parent Considerations   

Charter schools have been around since the 1990s and have experienced a tremendous growth since. With more schools opening, many parents throughout the states are exploring the freedom of choice. More freedom of choice means “parents are extending their criteria beyond the question of ‘public versus charter school?’ to ‘which charter school?’”. This switch in the conversation leaves many parents wondering what charter school is right for their child.  

Implications of school choice

The freedom of school choice, views parents as “consumers” with the responsibility of choosing the best possible school for their child. There “is little evidence that parents of different races and social classes value fundamentally different qualities in schools,” but there is evidence that “socioeconomic status, social capital, and education level” can limit the parental choice of schools. The attractive idea of school choice can be affected by parents' social identity.

Most parents, regardless of class status, rely on their social network for choosing schools. Higher-income parents “have a greater array of social resources and connections to trust when choosing a school, and making the choice seem almost effortless.” Upper-income parents might have more access to information which guides their choice of charter schools. One survey study of 553 upper-income mostly White parents in Colorado’s charter schools noted the importance of social networking in their decision to choose charter schools. Of those surveyed “95% of parents reported that they relied on talks with other family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and/or parents.” This study highlighted that upper-income white parents tend to rely greatly on the information given by those in their social networks, but the parents also did their research on “school quality, curriculum, instruction, and other factors to see whether the school is a good fit for their child.

Low income and minority parents, on the other hand, struggle “when it comes to the amount and type of information they can access.” “The many challenges that low-income families face both shape and limit their views of the costs and benefits of various school choice options.” A qualitative study conducted in New York City interviewed parents from two similar performing charter schools, one which was “racially and ethnically diverse” and another which was more “racially and ethnically homogeneous,” to get an “insight” on parent rationale for choosing that particular charter school. Parents from the homogeneously, Black and Latinx, low-income charter school tended to choose their charter school primarily as a desperate escape from the “negative experiences” they had faced at traditional public schools. Many of the parents in this charter school heard about the charter school by simply seeing it in their community or by hearing about it from people in their social network. So in this study, the parents used their social network but did not conduct extensive research so what they knew was more limited. Parents from the more economically and racially diverse school chose the charter school because of the school’s unique qualities which they felt would benefit their child. Parents from this school also heard about it in their social networks, but that particular charter school did more outreach through advertisements. In the diverse charter school, White and Asian parents were more likely to transfer out if they were dissatisfied with the charter school as compared to the other ethnic groups.

Optimizing selection

There is a need for parents to have access to resources that will help them optimize their selection of charter schools. One experimental research study asked 14,989 parents from Denver to rank their top schools, the researchers then focused on the top first school and surveyed the parents by asking them which “resource,” out of all the provided resources, had aided them the most in their decision of ranking their first choice school. The researchers then analyzed the quality of the top school chosen based on the Denver Public Schools School Performance Framework (SPF) with the noted resource. Parents who chose higher-rated schools were more likely to have listed two particular sources of school information. One was the “school choice enrollment guide” and the other resource was “parent websites.” The school choice enrollment guide provided parents with a list of “each school’s SPF rating.” These valuable resources were able to help low-income minority parents choose schools with higher ratings. So having access to sources such as school choice enrollment guides and parent websites might help parents optimize their charter school selection.