2019 Public Perception of Charter Schools in Mississippi

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI OCTOBER 2019 Report Sponsored ByReport Published By

TABLE OF Acknowledgments..............................CONTENTS 1 Mississippi Charter Schools.............. 2 Executive Summary........................... 3 Overview of Survey.......................................................... 3 High-Level Findings......................................................... 3 Technical Information....................... 7 Survey Results.................................. 11 Charter School Knowledge & Opinion Questions................ 11 Charter School Parent Satisfaction................................... 19 Appendix A: Survey Items.................. 24

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Mississippi First worked with the Survey Research Laboratory (SRL) at Mississippi State University’s Social Science Research Center as part of this project. SRL’s call center made the telephone calls for the survey according to specifications by Mississippi First and provided technical descriptions of their work and the sample as well as the results of the telephone calls. The report’s analyses and commentary, including comparisons to national education surveys, are the work of Mississippi First. As such, Mississippi First does not represent that SRL agrees or disagrees with any of this analysis or commentary.

Mississippi First is a 501c3 public policy non-profit that champions transformative policy solutions ensuring educational excellence for every Mississippi child. Mississippi First is a leading voice for state-funded pre-K, high-quality public charter schools, and rigorous state standards.

About Mississippi First

The Mississippi Public Charter Schools Act of 2013 established the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board (MCSAB) as the sole entity in Mississippi responsible for authorizing and overseeing charter schools. In 2017, the MCSAB received a federal Charter Schools Program grant which required them to “sponsor an annual parent and general public survey” to “assess awareness, general sentiment, satisfaction levels, and concerns about charter schools.”

Author & Designer

Rachel Canter is the author of this report. She is the Executive Director of Mississippi First and author of additional Mississippi First reports, including Leaving Last in Line and the Keeping the Promise briefs. Rachel co-founded Mississippi First in 2008.

About the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The MCSAB selected Mississippi First to conduct the survey and publish a report of the findings.

MacKenzie Stroh Hines is the designer of this report. She is the Chief of Staff for Mississippi First and designs all of Mississippi First’s materials and develops its communications strategy.

Special Thanks

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 2 MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS * Represents suppressed data to prevent the identification of individuals in small cells or with unique characteristics. † Ambition Prep will open in Jackson, Mississippi, in August 2019. When the survey was administered by SRL, Ambition Prep did not yet have students. 2015-20162645-8JACKSON JACKSON JACKSON JACKSON JACKSONCLARKSDALE 2015-2016 2016-2017 2018-2019 2018-2019 2019-2020 5-8 5-7 K-2 K-1 K-1 560 416 146 221ENROLLMENT DemographicsGRADES SERVED YEARHISPANICAMERICANLOCATIONOPENEDFEMALEMALEAFRICAN-ASIANORLATINOWHITE 49.62% 46.61% 47.36% 56.16% 43.89%50.38% 53.39% 52.64% 43.84% 56.11%97.35% 98.39% 99.52% 93.15% * * * * >99.8% - * - -* * * * *† *

General Knowledge

Mississippi First is a 501c3 nonprofit whose mission is to champion transformative policy solutions ensuring educational excellence for every Mississippi child. Since our founding in 2008, we have been at the forefront of many of Mississippi’s public education conversations. In 2017, the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board (MCSAB) received a federal Charter Schools Program grant that required them to “sponsor an annual parent and general public survey” to “assess awareness, general sentiment, satisfaction levels, and concerns about charter schools.” In 2018, MCSAB contracted with Mississippi First to design and implement this survey. Mississippi First partnered with the Survey Research Lab at Mississippi State University (SRL) to finalize the survey questions and administer the survey via telephone in April and May 2019. 11 demographic items were added to the 32 survey items in order to ensure respondents were representative and to enable analysis based on demographic factors. Participants were randomly drawn from one of two parenti pools: a non-charter parent pool, which included parents of children eligible to attend, but not enrolled in, charter schools; and a charter parent pool, which included all parents of children enrolled in charter schools in 2018-2019. More information about the technical aspects of the survey can be found in the Technical Information section of the full report.

Overview of Survey

Below, we report high-level findings from each of the two sections of the poll. Please see the Survey Results section of the full report for more information.

Misinformation still exists: one-third of charter parents (37.2%) and 4 in 10 non-charter parents (44.5%) mistakenly believe that charter schools are private schools

Surveyed parents in charter communities with at least some charter school familiarity were more likely to accurately identify charter schools as public schools than a 2017 representative sample of Mississippi adults. 55.5% of non-charter parents and 62.8% of charter parents correctly answered that charter schools are public schools, while only 49.3% of the 2017 sample correctly answered the question. Compared to our 2017 statewide sample of adults, surveyed parents in charter school communities were far more likely to indicate some familiarity with charter schools. 61.7% of non-charter school parents and 96.2% of charter school parents report at least some familiarity with charter schools, compared to only 42.6% of our 2017 sample of Mississippi adults.

High-Level Findings

Results from our poll suggest that parents in communities with charter schools are more likely to report familiarity with charter schools and be able to accurately identify them as public schools than the average Mississippi adult, regardless of whether the parent’s child attends a charter school.

i We use “parents” expansively in this report to mean any adult with custodial responsibility for a child. about General Charter School Knowledge, Trusted Sources, and Public Opinion

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Findings

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A large majority of parents in Mississippi charter school communities, regardless of whether their child attends a charter school, support charter schools and feel that charter schools have affected their community positively. This support is higher than support among the average Mississippi adult as found in our 2017 statewide sample and also higher than support nationally as found in a national survey. These results may indicate that support for charter schools increases as knowledge and experience with charter schools, especially charter schools perceived to be high quality, increases.

Opposition to charter schools was extremely low among both non-charter and charter school parents in Mississippi: 11.7% and 1.9%, respectively; in community: 12.5% and 2.4%, respectively. These results may indicate that in communities without charter schools, the charter school sector should focus on traditional media. In charter communities, the charter sector should heavily invest in direct parent communication. Both non-charter and charter school parents consult a wide variety of sources about charter schools, including friends, websites, social media, and family. Charter school parents are more likely to consult their school district, students, and information directly from a charter school. Non-charter school parents are more likely to get information from television and newspapers.

Non-charter and charter school parents were equally likely to select websites and their school district as their most important source of information, but the most commonly cited source for non-charter parents was friends and for charter parents was “other” sources, which included direct communications from the school, flyers sent via mail, and signs advertising charter schools. Neither television nor newspapers was a frequently cited “most important” source for either non-charter or charter school parents in charter school communities, even though these had been the most important sources for the 2017 statewide sample.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Non-charter school parents were less satisfied with their sources of charter school information than charter parents (50.4% v. 83.5%), but both parent groups were more satisfied with their information than the 2017 statewide sample (37.5%).

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN

Trusted Sources Public Opinion

Poll results suggest that parents most value their and their friends’ personal experience with charter schools as well as information directly from charter schools. In the absence of direct sources, parents rely more on trusted third parties like school districts and traditional media, specifically newspapers and television, but find these sources less satisfying.

Over 95% of charter school parents and over 76% of non-charter school parents “strongly” or “somewhat” support charter schools in their community. Parent support was similar for charter schools statewide.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Over 95% of parents “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with six of the nine indicators of school environment quality, including whether the school holds high academic standards, is safe, provides opportunities for involvement, feels like a place of learning, is clean and well maintained, and is a good place to learn.

The area in which parents saw the most need for improvement in the school environment was the school office, but satisfaction was still high at 83.6%.

School Environment

Charter school parents are more positive than non-charter school parents about the access that children in their community have to high-quality schools, with twice as many charter parents saying “all” children have access to high-quality schools (15.9%) as non-charter parents (7.4%). Nonetheless, large majorities of both charter and non-charter parents feel that “only some” or “no” children in their communities have access to high-quality schools (69.1% v. 79.1%, respectively).

Findings about Charter School Parent Satisfaction

Large majorities of both non-charter and charter parents in charter school communities feel that charter schools have been positive for their community (66.7% and 88.9%, respectively). These results are more positive than the 2017 statewide sample (53.6%).

Compared to the 2017 statewide sample, support among both parent groups in charter communities was much stronger and opposition much lower. Nearly twice as many parents in Mississippi charter communities support charter schools statewide or in their local communities as nationally representative adults in a 2016 Education Next survey.

Over 93% of parents “agreed or “strongly agreed” with two of the remaining indicators of school quality, including whether the school is a caring and nurturing place and whether the parent feels welcome at the school. The clear take-away from the survey is that Mississippi charter school parents are overwhelmingly satisfied with their child’s school. National comparisons suggest that Mississippi satisfaction is stronger than satisfaction among charter parents nationally.

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MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 6

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN

Over 90% of parents “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with five of the nine indicators of educational program quality, including whether the school does a good job preparing students for college or teaching basic skills (e.g., reading), whether school work and homework assignments are meaningful, whether their child has a close relationship with at least one adult at the school, and whether the parent is satisfied with the child’s academic progress.

Over 85% of parents “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with three of the remaining indicators of educational program quality, including whether the school does a good job teaching life skills (e.g., responsibility), measuring academic performance, and providing individualized instruction

Educational Program Quality

Only 1.9% of all 2018-2019 Mississippi charter school parents decided to leave their school due to dissatisfaction. 88.5% of charter school parents would give their child’s school an “A” or “B,” with zero parents rating their school an “F.” 94.7% of charter school parents would recommend their child’s school to other families. 80.4% of charter parents plan to re-enroll their child in their current charter school for the 20192020 school year. Of parents not re-enrolling their child, over 88.9% chose reasons not related to school quality, the most common of which was that their child is aging out of the grades offered by the school.

Overall

The area in which parents saw the most need for improvement in the educational program was school discipline, but satisfaction was still high at 80.5%.

EXECUTIVESatisfactionSUMMARY

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Survey Methodology

SRL, on behalf of Mississippi First, administered the telephone-based survey to adult parent respondents (18 and older) in one of two groups: non-charter school parents and charter school parents. By Mississippi law, children are eligible to attend charter schools if they 1) live in a district where a charter school is located or live in a district rated C, D, or F at the time of the school’s opening or at the time of their child’s enrollment and 2) are in a grade offered by a charter school. In order to construct the “non-charter parents” pool, Mississippi First focused on parents of grade-eligible children living in a district where a charter school is located in order to survey parents most likely to make a choice about whether to enroll their child in a charter school. This decision meant that the pool of “non-charter parents” included telephone numbers only of parents of children in Jackson Public School District in grades

TECHNICAL INFORMATION Final Disposition Code Total Action Completed survey 610 Number retired Respondent refused 775 Number retired Immediate hang-up 245 Returned to queue Callback possible 154 Returned to queue No answer 139 Returned to queue Busy signal 47 Returned to queue Answering machine/voicemail 1,470 Returned to queue Unsafe location for call (cellphone user) 38 Returned to queue Communication or language problem 79 Number retired Unable to participate due to health problem 3 Number retired Out of town for duration of study 10 Number retired Out of target population 49 Number retired Out of age range 26 Number retired Does not have a school-age child 87 Number retired Business phone 35 Number retired Disconnected number 1,248 Number retired Total Telephone Numbers 5,015 Figure 1. Call Log

Mississippi First created this parent survey to assess parents’ charter school knowledge and opinions as well as parent satisfaction with the five charter schools operating in Mississippi in 2018-2019. These schools were Reimagine Prep, Midtown Public Charter, Smilow Prep, Smilow Collegiate, and Clarksdale Collegiate. The first part of the survey asked all respondents 10 questions about their knowledge of charter schools, their sources of information about charter schools, and their opinions about the value of charter schools in the state and their community. Seven of these survey items mirrored those in Mississippi First’s 2017 Mississippi Voices survey in order to evaluate how responses from parents in communities with charter schools compare to our previous statewide sample representative of the general population of adults. Furthermore, two of the survey items are also similar to one found in the nationally reputable Education Next poll (EdNext). This allowed Mississippi First to provide a comparison between Mississippi responses and a national response for these two questions. In the second part of the survey, only charter school parents were asked an additional 22 questions to assess their satisfaction with their child’s school along a number of dimensions, including school environment, educational program, overall satisfaction, and re-enrollment. A few of these items matched items found in a 2016 parent survey conducted by EdNext. Finally, 11 demographic items were added to the survey for every respondent in order to ensure respondents were representative and to enable analysis based on demographic factors. The survey instrument can be found in Appendix A.

Survey Items

ii We used children eligible in 2019-2020 to sweep in all parents in charter communities eligible to make a choice about charter schools as of April/May 2019 when the survey was conducted.

Guarding Against Non-Response Bias

For any survey, researchers attempt to minimize non-response bias by ensuring every person in the sample has an equal chance of being selected for the survey, by achieving an adequate response rate and sample size, and by evaluating whether respondents are representative of the target population in terms of relevant observable characteristics, such as race, gender, income, etc.

The total universe of parents meeting our criteria yielded 5,015 telephone numbers, including 1,296 numbers for charter school parents and 3,719 for non-charter school parents (see Figure 1 for the call log). Because both target parent populations are small, SRL called each number in the pool in random order (known as a census-based survey design since poll workers attempt to survey the entire known population) and sought to hit a quota of at least 200 charter school and 400 non-charter school parent respondents to ensure the sample sizes of each group (non-charter parents and charter parents) were large enough to draw valid inferences. Each telephone number in the sample was called at least 10 times before it was retired (unless a final disposition had been attained prior to the tenth call attempt). The survey secured 610 interviews (210 from charter school parents and 400 from non-charter school parents) before concluding.

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Bias from Size of Non-Charter Parent List

Based on 2018-2019 enrollment figures for the relevant grades in both school districts, the list of non-charter parents from Jackson Public School District likely undercounted non-charter parents (by how much is difficult to assess). Per the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations, any parent who has specifically opted out of having their directory information shared with a third party would have been excluded from the telephone list. We are not sure if the undercount is due to true opt-outs or some other administrative problem in list generation. This undercount would bias the results if there was reason to believe that parents concerned about their directory information being shared were uniformly pro- or anti-charter or that privacy-concerned parents were different from other parents in a way related to their opinions about charter schools. There is no evidence, for example, that parents made an opt-out decision for the 2018-2019 school year to avoid a charter opinion poll not conducted until April 2019. If the undercount was due to an administrative problem (cherry-picking telephone numbers, etc.), there may be more of a bias issue, although the direction of the bias is unclear.

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI

K-2 and 4-8 and in Clarksdale Municipal School District in grades K-3, as these are the grades that will enroll charter school students in 2019-2020.ii The “charter parents” pool included phone numbers of all actual charter parents when the survey was conducted (2018-2019 school year), so this pool included some parents of children living in a school district outside of Jackson Public School District or Clarksdale Municipal School District.

SRL achieved a cooperation rate (response rate) of 44% (Completers / (Completers + Refusals)), which is above the acceptable benchmark for an external survey (above 15%). For each parent group—non-charter parents and charter parents—the margin of error is ±4.75 and ±6.25, respectively, at a 95% confidence level. Differences observed between groups were tested for statistical significance at a 95% level and reported in the analysis for each question.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Differences in age and gender were generally not statistically significant (Table 1). Respondents for both groups (93.5% for non-charter parents and 96.7% for charter parents) were overwhelmingly women, and slight differences were not significant. Over 80% of parents in both groups were also under the age of 45; however, non-charter parents (including both genders) were more likely (p<0.05) to be in the youngest category of 18-34.

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TECHNICAL INFORMATION Age Men Women Non-Charter Charter Non-Charter Charter 18-34 2.5% 0.5% 45.1% 36.2% 35-44 2.8% 1.4% 36.5% 42.9% 45-54 0.8% 1.0% 7.6% 12.4% 55-64 0.3% 0.5% 3.3% 4.8% 65+ 0.3% 0.0% 1.0% 0.5% TOTAL 6.5% 3.3% 93.5% 96.7% Table 1. Age and Gender Table 3. Race and Gender Race Men Women Non-Charter Charter Non-Charter Charter White 1.5% 1.0% 3.8% 1.9% Black 4.8% 2.4% 86.8% 93.3% Other 0.3% 0.0% 1.8% 0.5% Multi-Racial 0.0% 0.0% 1.0% 1.0% TOTAL 6.6% 3.4% 93.4% 96.6% Race Non-Charter Charter White 5.3% 2.9% Black 91.7% 95.7% Other 2.0% 0.5% Multi-Racial 1.0% 1.0% TOTAL 100% 100% Table 2. Race Sample

There were 610 participants in our survey, 400 non-charter parents and 210 charter parents. Below we have included reported demographic information about each group of participants along a number of dimensions. In general, charter parents were very similar to non-charter parent respondents.

Charter parents were more likely to report that their highest education level was “some college” or more than non-charter parents (p<0.05), but differences between charter and non-charter parents identifying as college graduates were not statistically significant (Table 4). Differences in income across the two parent groups were not statistically significant in general (Table 5). Both groups had approximately three-quarters of their parents making less than $50,000 per year

Differences in race were mostly not statistically significant (Table 2). An overwhelming majority of respondents in both parent groups (91.7% of non-charter parents, 95.7% of charter parents) identified as black, but charter school parents were more likely to identify as black (p<0.05) than noncharter school parents. Looking at race and gender together, a majority of respondents for both groups were black women (86.8% of non-charter parents, 93.3% of charter parents). However, charter parents were more likely to identify as black women than non-charter parents (p<0.05). Other combinations were not statistically different (Table 3).

Table 6. Number of Adults in Household Number of Adults in Household Non-Charter Charter 1 41.5% 45.2% More than 1 58.5% 54.8% TOTAL 100% 100% Table 7. Ever Attended a Mississippi Public School Public School Attendance Non-Charter Charter Yes 87.3% 91.4% No 12.8% 8.6% TOTAL 100% 100% TECHNICAL INFORMATIONLackof“Overall”ParentOpinionAnalysis

Representativeness of the sample as a whole to the entire universe of parents of eligible children (both charter and non-charter) is difficult to measure. The size issues with the non-charter parent list mean that we could not assume that this list was a true “census” of that universe. A common alternative would be to use U.S. Census data to develop appropriate weights. However, this data is not as fine-grained as the data we collected in our survey. For these reasons, we could not confidently weight our survey results to come up with an “overall” parent opinion figure as we did not have enough detail to appropriately weight the results along a number of demographic categories. In future surveys, if we are able to receive a more complete list of all parents of eligible children, we will construct a category showing the “overall” opinions of parents.

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 10 Table 4. Education Education Non-Charter Charter Some High School or Less 6.0% 1.4% High School Graduate 21.0% 10.0% Some College/Associate’s 40.3% 49.5% College Graduate and Beyond 32.8% 39.0% TOTAL 100% 100% Table 5. Income Household Income Non-Charter Charter Under $15,000 31.9% 19.5% $15,000 - $24,999 18.3% 20.5% $25,000 - $34,999 13.1% 15.0% $35,000 - $49,999 12.5% 21.0% $50,000 - $74,999 12.3% 14.5% $75,000+ 12.0% 9.5% TOTAL 100% 100% in household income; however, charter parents were less likely to be in the very lowest category of income, under $15,000, than non-charter parents.

Respondents from a majority of both groups lived in a household with more than one adult. Differences were not statistically significant (Table Respondents6). from a majority of both groups attended public schools in Mississippi at any point in time (Table 7). Differences in public school attendance were not statistically significant.

Analysis

SURVEY RESULTS

Question 1—On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “not at all familiar” and 5 meaning “very familiar,” how would you rate your familiarity with charter schools? (Response rate: 99.2%) Response Non-Charter Parents Charter Parents 2017 Statewide Sample 38.2% 3.8% 57.5% 15.7% 4.3% 10.6% 22.0% 8.1% 14.3% 9.1% 16.2% 8.7% 14.9% 67.6% 9.0%

The survey contained 10 items to assess parents’ knowledge of charter schools, their sources of information about charter schools, and their opinions about the value of charter schools in the state and their community. If respondents were “not at all familiar” with charter schools as determined by Question 1, they only answered six of these questions (Questions 1, 6-10). 446 out of 610 respondents answered Questions 2-5. Below, we present the responses to each question as well as analysis.

4

Question

3

Analysis Non-charter parents were 10 times more likely to report no familiarity with charter schools than charter parents (38.2% v. 3.8%). This difference, to a lesser extent, is reflected in every category, with charter parents, naturally, being more familiar. Nonetheless, compared to our 2017 statewide sample of adults (42.6%), parents in this survey were much more likely to indicate some familiarity with charter schools, regardless of whether their child attended one (charter parents: 96.2%, non-charter parents: 61.7%). Even non-charter parents were 1.5 times more likely to indicate some familiarity than our 2017 statewide sample (61.7% v. 42.6%). This difference was statistically significant (p <0.05). This may indicate that charter familiarity increases once a charter school begins operating in a community, but since we did not poll statewide, it is difficult to distinguish whether and how much this knowledge increase is simply the result of increasing statewide familiarity over time. Due to the small sizes of the sample, we could not determine whether there was any difference between racial groups in responses to this question. 2—[Skip item if Q1=1] Would you say charter schools are public or private schools? (Response rate: 66.9%/91.4% of asked) Statewide Sample 62.8% 49.3% 37.2% 50.7% Question 2 was asked only of the 446 survey participants who indicated that they had some knowledge of charter schools. Charter parents were more likely than non-charter parents to correctly answer this question (62.8% versus 55.5%); however, this difference was not statistically significant, possibly

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1

5

2

Response Non-Charter Parents Charter Parents 2017

Public 55.5%

Charter School Knowledge and Opinion Questions

Private 44.5%

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 12 38.6% 31.1% 28.2% 24.5% 27.8% 13.7% 17.0% 26.1% 11.9% 17.8% 9.1% 5.4% 37.1% 34.7% 32.2% 34.7% 28.2%29.7% 19.3% 8.4% 23.8% 7.4% 5.0%5.9% 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0% CommunitySchoolSocialWebsitesFriendsMediaDistrictFamilyStudentsMeetingsTelevisionOtherNewspaperRadioPlacesofWorship Percent of Parents Answering "Yes" Charter Parents Non-Charter Parents due to the small sample sizes. Both groups, though, were more likely to answer the question correctly than participants in our 2017 statewide sample (49.3%) and these differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). This data suggests that parents with access to charter schools are more likely to receive and remember accurate information about them, but there is still more work to be done as even 37.2% of charter school parents do not know that they are public schools. Question 3—[Skip item if Q1=1] From which of the following sources do you get information about charter schools? (Response rate: 72.6%/99.3% of asked) SURVEY RESULTS *Results statistically different. * * * * *

SURVEY RESULTS

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 13 Analysis

Question 3 was restricted to participants who expressed some familiarity with charter schools. Again, there were differences between charter parents and non-charter parents. For friends, websites, and social media, differences between the two parent groups were not statistically significant. However, charter parents were significantly (p<0.05) more likely than non-charter parents to cite their school district (34.7% v. 24.5%) as a source and were twice as likely to select “students” (28.2% v. 13.7%) or “other” (23.8% v. 11.9%) as a source (p<0.05). Charter parents who listed “other” sources most commonly named them as “directly from the charter school” (61.7%) or a “flyer sent via mail” (38.3%). Conversely, non-charter parents were three times as likely to select “television” (26.1% v. 8.4%) as a source and twice as likely to select “newspaper” (17.8% v. 7.4%), both differences being statistically significant (p <0.05). For Question 4, respondents were asked to select their single most important source of information about charter schools. Non-charter and charter parents were equally likely to cite “websites” and “[their] school district” as their most important source but non-charter parents were more likely to select “friends” (18.90% v. 6.5%) as their top source while charter parents selected “other sources” (18.1% v. 7.3%) as a top choice. These differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Of charter parents selecting “other sources” as their most important source, a strong majority (77.8%) of them listed communications directly from charter schools, such as “the school itself” (52.8%), “flyer sent via mail” (16.7%), or “sign advertising charter schools” (8.3%). Interestingly, non-charter parents remained more likely (p <0.05) to select “television” and “newspaper” than charter parents, even though these were not among their most cited sources. Similarly, charter parents were still more likely (p <0.05) to select “students” (11.1% v. 2.1%) than noncharter parents.

Question 4—[Skip item if Q1=1] Of the sources you mentioned, which would you say is your most important source of information about charter schools? (Response rate: 70.8%/96.9% of asked) Response Non-Charter Parents Charter Parents 2017 Statewide Sample Friends 18.9% 6.5% 10.9% Family 12.9% 10.6% 8.3% Students 2.1% 11.1% 3.3% Your School District 14.2% 17.6% 7.9% Places of Worship 0.0% 0.5% 2.6% Community Meetings 5.6% 7.0% 3.6% Television 8.2% 2.0% 17.5% Radio 1.3% 0.0% 6.8% Newspaper 4.7% 0.5% 18.6% Social Media 10.7% 8.0% 4.9% Websites 14.2% 17.6% 10.9% Other Sources 7.3% 18.1% 4.8% Analysis

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SURVEY RESULTS

It is unclear what information about charter schools parents rely on from traditional school districts, which in the past have often been actively hostile to charter schools. The law requires that traditional school districts advertise charter schools “in the same manner” as district schools, but there has not been any research yet about what this looks like in practice. Neither Jackson Public School District nor Clarksdale Municipal School District provide information about available charter schools on their websites as of June 2019.1 Anecdotally, we have reports that some Jackson charter parents saw a flyer in their child’s traditional school district office and learned about charter schools through that flyer.2 Whatever the case, parents in this survey still valued the information provided by traditional districts about charter schools. In contrast with the parent respondents, our 2017 statewide sample cited newspapers (18.6%) and television (17.5%) as their top sources of charter information. They were more likely (p<0.05) to cite these traditional media sources than either non-charter or charter parents. This may be evidence that people in communities without charter schools heavily rely on traditional media sources for charter school information, but once a charter school opens in a community, parents shift how they access and weigh information, giving primacy to their or their friends’ experience or direct communications from the school. This suggests that charter schools and their advocates should focus on a two-part communications strategy— increasing traditional media information about charter schools in areas without charter schools or in which charter schools are new and increasing direct communications from schools once charter schools are approved or open. parents are a third less satisfied than charter parents (50.4% versus 83.5%, significant at p<0.05) with the information they receive about charter schools, but satisfaction still exceeds that of the 2017 statewide sample (37.5%, significant at p<0.05). Taken together with the findings from Question 4, Question 5 responses suggest parents most value their and their friends’ personal experience and direct information from charter schools and become less satisfied the more indirect the information source becomes. The 33.1 percentage-point gap between non-charter parents and charter parents suggests that non-charter parents desire more and better information about charter schools, including more and better information directly from schools. Furthermore, since this question was only asked of parents that had at least some familiarity with charter schools, the percentage of parents in charter communities wanting more and better information about charter schools may be higher.

Question 5—[Skip item if Q1=1] On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 meaning “very dissatisfied” and 5 meaning “very satisfied,” how would you rate the information about charter schools that you receive from all sources? (Response rate: 72.1%/98.7% of asked) Response Non-Charter Parents Charter Parents 2017 Statewide 1 7.9% 1.5% 6.9% 2 11.3% 0.5% 17.2% 3 30.4% 14.5% 38.3% 4 22.1% 26.0% 24.4% 5 28.3% 57.5% 13.1% A nalysis Non-charter

SURVEY

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 15 Questions 6 and 7 Questions 6 and 7 were introduced with the following prompt: Mississippi permits the formation of charter schools, which are publicly funded but are not managed by the local school board. These schools are expected to meet promised objectives but are exempt from many state regulations. Question 6—How would you rate your level of support for having charter schools in Mississippi? Would you say you… (Response rate: 97.2%) Question 7—How would you rate your level of support for having charter schools in your community? Would you say you… (Response rate: 97.7%) QuestionSampleand Completely support havingschoolscharter Somewhat support Neither support nor oppose Somewhat oppose Completely oppose havingschoolscharter In Mississippi Non-Charter Parents 43.1% 27.7% 16.7% 5.7% 6.8% Charter Parents 81.0% 13.3% 3.3% 1.9% 0.5% 2017SampleStatewide 29.0% 26.3% 18.0% 14.4% 12.4% In Your Community Non-Charter Parents 51.6% 24.9% 11.9% 4.7% 7.0% Charter Parents 82.4% 13.3% 2.4% 1.4% 0.5% Analysis for Questions 6 and 7 Questions 6 and 7 were asked of all Mississippi respondents, regardless of pre-existing familiarity with charter schools. Charter parents expressed stronger support (95.7% “strongly” or “somewhat” support in community, 94.3% statewide) than non-charter parents (76.5% “strongly” or “somewhat” support in community, 70.8% statewide), even though a majority of non-charter parents support having charter schools in their local communities and in Mississippi. Similarly, a majority of both parent groups “completely support” charter schools in their local communities: 51.6% of non-charter parents and 82.4% of charter parents. (For comparison, 43.1% of non-charter parents and 81% of charter parents “completely support” charter schools statewide.) Overall, the differences between support for charter schools in local communities versus support for charter schools statewide were small and not statistically significant. Opposition to charter schools was extremely low among both groups, although non-charter parents opposed them more than charter parents (Mississippi: 11.7% v. 1.9%; community: 12.5% v. 2.4%; both significant at p<0.05). As with support numbers, opposition to charter schools was not statistically different for local communities versus statewide.

RESULTS

EdNext

Analysis of EdNext Comparison

Nearly twice as many parents in Mississippi charter communities supported charter schools statewide or in their local communities (Mississippi, for example: charter parents—94.3%, non-charter parents—70.8%) as respondents in the EdNext survey (44%). Likewise, at least three times as many EdNext respondents opposed charter schools (35%) as did parents in Mississippi charter communities (statewide, for example: charter parents—2.4%, non-charter parents—11.7%).

These dramatic differences may be caused by several factors. First of all, the EdNext sample was representative of the general population nationally, just as our 2017 statewide sample was representative of the general population statewide. Nationally, charter schools are limited to certain states and jurisdictions and serve only 6% of all public school students.4 Many of the respondents likely did not have charter schools in their area, and if knowledge and experience with charter schools increases support, this could have skewed the results downward. Furthermore, recent research shows that black Democrats as well as Republicans of all races are more likely to support charter schools than white Democrats.5 Although we did not ask respondents their party affiliation, we did collect data about race. Black residents were the majority of both our non-charter and charter parent samples as is

SURVEY RESULTS

| PAGE 16

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI

Questions 6 and 7 were nearly identical to a question in the 2018 EdNext survey,3 which EdNext asked of a randomly selected one-third of their sample. (The other two-thirds received a variation on this question to evaluate whether the respondents were sensitive to phrasings of “charter school,” “public charter school,” or simply “school.”) The comparable EdNext question read, “As you may know, many states permit the formation of charter schools, which are publicly funded but are not managed by the local school board. These schools are expected to meet promised objectives, but are exempt from many state regulations. Do you support or oppose the formation of charter schools?” As in our survey, responses could range from “strongly support” to “strongly oppose.” The margin of error for the EdNext poll was ±1.4 percentage points.

Compared to the 2017 statewide sample, support among both parent groups in charter communities was much stronger and opposition much lower. The 2017 statewide sample was asked about support “in Mississippi.” Comparing “Mississippi” results to the 2017 sample shows a 39 percentage-point difference in support among charter parents and a 15.5 percentage-point difference among non-charter parents. Similarly, parents in communities with charter schools were at least half as likely to oppose charter schools as the 2017 statewide sample (2.4% and 11.7% v. 26.8%). Both of these findings were statistically significant (p<0.05). These results may indicate that support for charter schools increases as knowledge and experience with charter schools, especially charter schools perceived to be high quality, increases.

EdNext Comparison

Responses from the General Public to Comparable Charter Question Response Percent Strongly support 15% Somewhat support 29% Neither support nor oppose 21% Somewhat oppose 21% Strongly oppose 14%

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 17 SURVEY RESULTS representative of both Jackson and Clarksdale. Both of these locations also voted for the 2016 Democratic nominee for president by large margins.6 This population is much smaller nationally and therefore less represented in the EdNext survey. Question 8—How do you think having a charter school in your area has affected education in your community? Would you say the effect has been… (Response rate: 88.2%) Response Non-Charter Parents Charter Parents 2017 Statewide Sample Very positive 32.6% 63.8% 22.7% Somewhat positive 34.1% 25.1% 30.9% Neither positive nor negative 25.7% 8.2% 17.2% Somewhat negative 3.6% 1.9% 12.8% Very negative 3.9% 1.0% 7.7%

Analysi s

Like the results for Questions 6 and 7, strong majorities of both charter and non-charter parents feel that charter schools have been positive for their community. Charter parents are more likely (p<0.05) to feel the effect has been positive (88.9%) than non-charter parents (66.7%), but support for both groups is significantly higher than opposition. These results are more positive (p<0.05) than the results from the 2017 statewide sample in which only 53.6% stated that the effect on “education in [their] community” of “a charter school opening in [their] district”iii would be “very positive” or “positive.” In that survey, limiting the sample only to respondents who indicated some pre-existing familiarity with charter schools increased the percentage of respondents who “completely” or “somewhat” support charter schools in their community to 67.7%. That increase along with the stronger majorities in current charter communities suggests that once people have more knowledge and experience with charter schools, they begin to see them in a more positive light.

Question 9—Would you say that all children, most children, only some children, or no children have access to high-quality schools in your community? [Response rate: 98.2%] Response Non-Charter Parents Charter Parents All children 7.4% 15.9% Most children 13.5% 15.0% Only some children 71.7% 65.2% No children 7.4% 3.9% iii The full question read, “How do you think a charter school opening in your district would affect education in your community? Do you think the effect would be…”

our parent categorization was accurate

school each charter school parent had a child enrolled.

610 respondents answered the question,

Charter parents were generally more positive about the access that children in their community have to high-quality schools than non-charter parents, with twice as many charter parents saying “all” children have access to high-quality schools (15.9%) compared to non-charter parents (7.4%), although both of these assessments are still quite low. Charter parents were also less likely to say that “only some” or “no” children have access (69.1%) than non-charter parents (79.1%). Both of these differences were statistically significant (p <0.05). This finding may suggest that charter school parents believe access to charter schools increases access to high-quality schools, but further research would need to ask charter parents specifically about this relationship. 10 sought not only to confirm that (non-charter which Overall, 100% of our and 209 of 210

the

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 18 Analysis

v. charter) but to determine at

charter parents named their child’s school. SURVEY RESULTS

Question 10—Do you have a child enrolled at any Mississippi charter schools? (Response rate: 100%) Response Overall Charter Parents Identifying Child’s School No 65.6% Yes 34.4% 99.5% Clarksdale Collegiate 2.8% 8.1% Midtown Public 4.4% 12.9% Reimagine Prep 14.8% 43.1% Smilow Collegiate 4.4% 12.9% Smilow Prep 9.7% 28.2% Refused .2% Analysis Question

Only charter school parents were asked Questions 11-32, which were intended to determine how satisfied charter school parents were with their child’s charter school in 2018-2019 along a number of dimensions. Of those parents, the 209 (of 210 total charter parents) who provided the name of their child’s school received these questions. Due to the extremely small sample sizes of parents with children at individual charter schools, we could not assess to a statistically valid degree whether parents at any particular school felt differently than their peers at other charter schools. Instead, these findings are generalizable to Mississippi charter parents as a whole. 11-28 Questions 11-28 asked charter school parents to rate their level of agreement with a statement about their child’s school on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “strongly disagree” and 5 meaning “strongly agree.” 60.4% a parent/ guardian, I feel welcome at the school. [100%] 1.4% 0.5% 3.3% 30.1% 64.6% have opportunities for involvement at the school. [100%] 0.5% 1.4% 2.9% 36.4% 58.9% school looks and feels like a place where learning occurs. [100%] 0.5% 0.0% 2.4% 30.6% 66.5% school office is well run. [99%] 1.4% 5.8% 9.2% 34.3% 49.3% school facilities are clean and well maintained. [98.6%] 0.5% 0.5% 1.9% 34.5% 62.6% the school is a good place to learn. [100%] 0.5% 0.0% 2.9% 33.0% 63.6% Program Statements school does a good job preparing my student for college. [99%] 1.0% 0.5% 4.3% 34.3% 59.9% school does a good job of teaching my student basic skills (e.g., reading). [99.5%] 1.4% 1.0% 2.4% 31.7% 63.5% school does a good job teaching my student “life skills” (e.g., responsibility). [98.6%] 1.0% 2.4% 9.2% 35.0% 52.4% Satisfaction

Q18—The

Questions

Q22—The

Q15—I

Q19—Overall,

Statement [Response Rate] Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree School Environment Statements Q11—The school has high standards for my student’s academic achievement. [99.5%] 1.4% 1.0% 2.4% 26.9% 68.3% Q12—The school is safe. [100%] 0.5% 0.5% 3.8% 27.8% 67.5% Q13—The school is a caring and nurturing place. [99%] 1.0% 1.0% 4.3% 33.3%

Q14—As

Q17—The

SURVEY RESULTS Charter School Parent

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 19

Educational

Q16—The

Q21—The

Q20—The

Q26—Student discipline is fair. [98.1%] 2.4% 6.3% 10.7% 33.2% 47.3%

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 20

Q27—My student has a close relationship with at least one adult at the school. [98.6%] 1.0% 1.9% 4.9% 29.6% 62.6%

School Environment Analysis

• The school looks and feels like a place where learning occurs. (97.1%)

• I have opportunities for involvement at the school. (95.3%)

• Overall, the school is a good place to learn. (96.6%)

Over 93% of parents additionally “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with two of the statements:

• As a parent/ guardian, I feel welcome at the school. (94.7%)

Q28—Overall, I am satisfied with my student’s academic progress. [98.6%] 1.5% 3.4% 2.4% 34.5% 58.3%

Finally, the area in which charter schools could make the most improvement according to parents is with the school office; however, parents still indicated strong satisfaction as 83.6% of parents “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that “the school office is well run.”

Statement [Response Rate] Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

• The school facilities are clean and well maintained. (97.1%)

Q23—The school tests are accurate measures of my student’s academic performance. [99%] 2.4% 1.9% 8.2% 37.2% 50.2%

Charter school parents are extremely satisfied with their child’s school environment. Out of the nine school environment questions, over 95% of parents “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with six of the statements:

Charter school parents are similarly highly satisfied with their child’s educational program. Of the nine educational program statements, over 90% of parents “agreed” or “strongly “agreed” with five of them:

• The school does a good job preparing my student for college. (94.2%)

Q24—The school provides individualized instruction for my student. [98.1%] 2.0% 2.9% 8.8% 36.6% 49.8%

Q25—My student’s school work and homework assignments are meaningful. [98.6%] 1.9% 1.9% 4.9% 41.3% 50.0%

Educational Program Analysis

SURVEY RESULTS

• The school is a caring and nurturing place. (93.7%)

• The school does a good job of teaching my student basic skills (e.g., reading). (95.2%)

• The school is safe. (95.3%)

• The school has high standards for my student’s academic achievement. (95.2%)

Parents’ responses indicate that the area where charter schools could show the most improvement in their educational programs is discipline; however, parents were still satisfied: 80.5% of parents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “student discipline is fair” with another 10.7% feeling neutral about the topic.

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 21

• My student has a close relationship with at least one adult at the school. (92.2%)

Additionally, over 85% of charter parents agreed or strongly agreed with three of the eight statements:

• The school provides individualized instruction for my student. (86.4%)

Although our scope of work did not include polling non-charter school parents on these same questions—an opportunity for future years—we do have some data from the 2016 Education Next Parent Poll7 which asked a nationally representative sample of charter, district, and private school parents a series of questions about their child’s school. The EdNext questions were phrased as, “How satisfied are you with each of the following aspects of this child’s school?” with a list of aspects given one by one. Without further information and because the questions are not identical, we cannot compare these responses directly. Nonetheless, the responses do provide some clues as to whether the Mississippi charter parents’ responses are high, low, or average compared to charter parents nationally. Results from the EdNext survey show satisfaction nationally among charter parents to be strong (and stronger than traditional public school parents’ satisfaction); however, Mississippi charter parents had much stronger satisfaction.

• The school tests are accurate measures of my student’s academic performance. (87.4%)

Mississippi Charter Parents EdNext Charter Parents Issue Agree Strongly Agree Total Satisfied Very Satisfied Total Expectations for student achievement (Compared to Question 11) 26.9% 68.3% 95.2% 42% 38% 80% Safety (Compared to Question 12) 27.8% 67.5% 95.3% 40% 38% 78% School buildings and facilities (Compared to Question 18) 34.5% 62.6% 97.1% 42% 30% 72% School (CompareddisciplinetoQuestion 26) 33.2% 47.3% 80.5% 38% 34% 72%

• My student’s school work and homework assignments are meaningful. (91.3%)

• Overall, I am satisfied with my student’s academic progress. (92.8%)

• The school does a good job teaching my student “life skills” (e.g., responsibility). (87.4%)

EdNext Comparison

SURVEY RESULTS

RESULTS

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 22

is enrolled?

you say… (Response

Charter school parents’ ratings of school quality are much higher compared to how respondents in our statewide poll felt about the overall quality of schools in their communities. In that poll, respondents were asked, “Suppose the public school system in Mississippi was graded the same way students are: on an A to F scale. What overall grade would you give the public school system IN YOUR COMMUNITY?” Only 53.9% of respondents in that poll gave their local schools an “A” or “B” rating while 21.6% gave their local schools a “D” or “F” rating. Both of these differences were statistically significant (p<0.05).

Analysis

SURVEY

Response Percent of Charter Parents Yes 94.7% No 5.3% Nearly 95% (94.7%) of Mississippi charter school parents would recommend their school to other parents, a strong vote of confidence for Mississippi charter schools.

Charter school parents were very positive about the overall quality of their child’s school—88.5% gave their child’s school an “A” or a “B” with zero parents rating the school an “F” and only 3.8% giving their school a “D.”

29—Overall, what

Analysis

you

Question 30—Would you recommend the charter school in which your child is enrolled to other families? (Response rate: 99.5%)

the charter

Question grade would give school in which your child Would rate: 100%)

Response Percent of Charter Parents 2017 Statewide Sample A for Excellent 53.1% 18.3% B for Good 35.4% 35.6% C for Average 7.7% 24.4% D for Needs Improvement 3.8% 14.2% F for Bad 0.0% 7.4%

Analysis Four out of five (80.4%) charter school parents planned to re-enroll their child at their charter school next year. This is a very strong indication of “bottom line” satisfaction.

Response Percent of Parents Not Re-Enrolling Children

Percent of Overall Charter Parents

Question 32—[Skip item if Q31=Yes] Why will your child not attend this school next year? (Response rate: 18.2%/94.7% of asked)

I am not satisfied with the school. 11.1% 1.9% Child does not want to return. 0.0% 0.0% Child is advancing past the grade levels offered at this school. 63.9% 11% Other: Child going to a performing arts school. 2.8% 4.8%

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 23

SURVEY RESULTS

Child/family is moving away from the area. 22.2% 3.8%

Response Percent of Charter Parents Yes 80.4% No 19.6%

Analysis Question 32 asked parents to give their reason if they were not re-enrolling their child. Nearly 90% (88.9%) of charter school parents choosing not to reenroll their child selected a reason unrelated to school quality. The most common reason was that the child is aging out of the school (63.9% of leavers; 11% of charter parents overall). Just 1.9% of the overall charter parent sample is leaving their school due to dissatisfaction.

Question 31—Do you plan to re-enroll your child at the charter school in which he or she is currently enrolled again next year? (Response rate: 92.8%)

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 24 For all respondents: 1. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “not at all familiar” and 5 meaning “very familiar,” how would you rate your familiarity with charter schools? • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • Don’t Know • Refused For respondents who identified that they had some knowledge (responses of 2-5) of charter schools: 2. Would you say charter schools are public or private schools? • Public schools • Private schools • Don’t know • Refused 3. From which of the following sources do you get information about charter schools? • Places of worship • Students • Community meetings • Your school district • Family • Websites • Social media • Radio • Friends • Newspaper • Television • Other (please specify): • Don’t know • Refused 4. Of the sources you mentioned, which would you say is your most important source of information about charter schools? • [Carry over from Q3] • Don’t know • Refused APPENDIX A: SURVEY ITEMS

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 25 5. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 meaning “very dissatisfied” and 5 meaning “very satisfied,” how would you rate the information about charter schools that you receive from all sources? • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • Don’t know • Refused For all respondents: Prompt: Mississippi permits the formation of charter schools, which are publicly funded but are not managed by the local school board. These schools are expected to meet promised objectives but are exempt from many state regulations. 6. How would you rate your level of support for having charter schools in Mississippi? Would you say you: • Completely support having charter schools in Mississippi • Somewhat support • Neither support nor oppose • Somewhat oppose, or • Completely oppose having charter schools in Mississippi • Don’t know • Refused 7. How would you rate your level of support for having charter schools in your community? Would you say you: • Completely support having charter schools in your community • Somewhat support • Neither support nor oppose • Somewhat oppose, or • Completely oppose having charter schools in your community • Don’t know • Refused 8. How do you think a charter school opening in your area has affected education in your community? Would you say the effect has been… • Very positive • Somewhat positive • Neither positive nor negative • Somewhat negative • Very negative • Don’t know • Refused APPENDIX A: SURVEY ITEMS

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 26 9. Thinking about access to high-quality schools in your community, would you say that: • All children have access to high-quality schools • Most children have access to high-quality schools • Only some children have access, or • No children have access to high-quality schools • Don’t know • Refused 10. What school does your child attend? • [Insert drop-down menu of charter school names] • Any other school [Skip to Demographics] • Refused [Skip to Demographics] For charter school parents: I. ABOUT THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT The following questions are about your experiences with [School Name]. Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements about school environment: Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree 11. The school has high standards for my student’s academic achievement. 1 2 3 4 5 12. The school is safe. 1 2 3 4 5 13. The school is a caring and nurturing place. 1 2 3 4 5 14. As a parent/guardian, I feel welcome at the school. 1 2 3 4 5 15. I have opportunities for involvement at the school. 1 2 3 4 5 16. The school looks and feels like a place where learning occurs. 1 2 3 4 5 17. The school office is well run. 1 2 3 4 5 18. The school facilities are clean and well maintained. 1 2 3 4 5 19. Overall, the school is a good place to learn. 1 2 3 4 5 APPENDIX A: SURVEY ITEMS

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 27 II. ABOUT THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree 20. The school does a good job preparing my student for college. 1 2 3 4 5 21. The school does a good job of teaching my student basic skills (e.g., reading). 1 2 3 4 5 22. The school does a good job teaching my student “life skills” (e.g., responsibility). 1 2 3 4 5 23. The school tests are accurate measures of my student’s academic performance. 1 2 3 4 5 24. The school provides individualized instruction for my student. 1 2 3 4 5 25. My student’s school work and homework assignments are meaningful. 1 2 3 4 5 26. Student discipline is fair. 1 2 3 4 5 27. My student has a close relationship with at least one adult at the school. 1 2 3 4 5 28. Overall, I am satisfied with my student’s academic prog ress. 1 2 3 4 5 III. OVERALL 29. Overall, what grade would you give to the school? Would you say… • A for Excellent • B for Good • C for Average • D for Needs Improvement • F for Bad • Not sure • Refused 30. Would you recommend this school to other families? • Yes • No • Don’t know • Refused APPENDIX A: SURVEY ITEMS

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 28 31. Do you plan to re-enroll your child again next year? • Yes [Skip to Q33] • No • Don’t know [Skip to Q33] • Refused [Skip to Q33] 32. If not, why will your child not attend this school next year? • Child/family is moving away from the area • I am not satisfied with the school • Child does not want to return • Other (please specify): • Don’t know • Refused Demographic questions: 33. In what year were you born? 34. Including yourself, how many adults 18 or older live in your household? 35. How many children under 18 live in your household? 36. Do you consider yourself Hispanic? • Yes • No • Don’t know • Refused 37. What is your race? • White • Black/African America • American Indian or Alaskan Native • Asian or Pacific Islander • Multi-racial • Other 38. What was the last grade or year of school that you attended? • Never attended school or only attended Kindergarten • Grades 1-8 (Elementary) • Grades 9-11 (Some high school) APPENDIX A: SURVEY ITEMS

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 29 • Completed High School or GED equivalent • Some college or vocational program • Completed Associate’s degree (2-year program) • Completed Bachelor’s degree (4-year-program) • Completed Master’s degree (4-year program) • Beyond Master’s degree • Not sure • Refused 39. During your K-12 education, did you ever attend Mississippi public schools for one-year or more? • Yes • No • Don’t know • Refused 40. Are you the parent or guardian of any children who are currently attending a public school in Mississippi, not including college or university? • Yes • No • Refused 41. Are you the parent or guardian of any children who have ever attended a public school in Mississippi, not including college or university? • Yes • No • Refused 42. I am going to read you a list of categories. Please stop me when I reach the category that best describes your annual household income from all sources before taxes. • Less than $10,000 • $10,000 to under $15,000 • $15,000 to under $20,000 • $20,000 to under $25,000 • $25,000 to under $30,000 • $30,000 to under $35,000 • $35,000 to under $50,000 • $50,000 to under $75,000 • $75,000 to under $100,000 • $100,000 to under $150,000 • $150,000 to under $200,000 APPENDIX A: SURVEY ITEMS

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 30 • $200,000 or more • Don’t know • Refused 43. What is your zip code? 44. With what gender do you identify? • Man • Woman • Non-binary • Transgender • Other (please specify): • Don’t know • Refused APPENDIX A: SURVEY ITEMS

CITATIONS

MISSISSIPPI | PAGE 31

5 Barnum, Matt. 2019. “New Democratic Divide on Charter Schools Emerges, as Support Plummets Among White Democrats.” Chalkbeat, May 14. Accessed July 24, 2019. https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/05/14/charter-schools-democrats-race-polling-divide/.

6 Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office. 2016. General Election County Recapitulation Report. Jackson, Mississippi: Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office. Accessed August 8, 2019. http://www.sos.ms.gov/Elections-Voting/Pages/2016-General-Election.aspx.

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN

4 McFarland, J., Hussar, B., Zhang, J., Wang, X., Wang, K., Hein, S., Diliberti, M., Forrest Cataldi, E., Bullock Mann, F., and Barmer, A. 2019. “Preprimary, Elementary, and Secondary Education, Elementary and Secondary Education: Public Charter School Enrollment.” The Condition of Education 2019 (NCES 2019-144). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Accessed July 24, 2019. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgb.asp.

R. Canter, June 7, 2019. Website search for “charter school” on the Jackson Public Schools’ website Schoolaspx?PageType=6&SiteID=4&SearchString=charter%20school#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=charter%20school&gsc.page=1(https://www.jackson.k12.ms.us/site/Default.)andClarksdaleMunicipalDistrict’swebsite(https://www.cmsdschools.org/site/Default.aspx?PageType=6&SiteID=4&SearchString=charter%20school).

2 M. Hines, August 2016. Personal communications with charter school parents.

1

3 Cheng, Albert, Henderson, Michael, Peterson, Paul E., and Martin R. West. 2019. 2018 EdNext Poll. Cambridge, MA: Education Next Institute, Program on Education Policy and Governance, Harvard Kennedy School. https://www.educationnext.org/files/2018ednextpoll.pdf.

7 Barrows, S., Peterson, Paul E., and Martin R. West. 2018. “What Do Parents Think of Their Children’s School?” Education Next 17 (2): 8-18. Accessed July 24, 2019. https://www.educationnext.org/what-do-parents-think-of-childrens-schools-ednext-private-district-charter/

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