What Does Charter School Mean to You? A Look at Louisiana's Charter Enrollment by Charter Type

This article examines the intersection of race, socioeconomic status (SES), and charter type/admission practices in Louisiana charter schools. This study used publicly available Department of Education data to compile the sample of charter school demographic information. A one-way Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted using race and socioeconomic status as dependent variables and charter type and admission practice as the independent variables. Findings suggest that there are significant differences in African American student enrollment and enrollment of low income students, particularly for Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) start-ups/conversions and forced conversions/Recovery School District (RSD) charters when compared to all other types. This is also true when comparing selective versus open enrollment charters. Results reveal a higher enrollment pattern of African American and low income students in BESE start-ups/conversions and forced conversion charters (Types 2 and 5) than in local school board start-ups and conversions (Types 1, 3, and 4). This indicates that race and SES are a function of charter type in Louisiana, which adds context to the charter school debate on enrollment patterns.