Teachers and principals in traditional public schools in urban areas consistently report more safety problems than authorities in urban charter schools do, says a report by the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education.
As part of the Seattle-based center’s National Charter School Research Project, the research initiative analyzed data from the 2005-06 Schools and Staffing Survey. It found that while both traditional public schools and charter schools in urban areas reported threats of violence and behavioral problems, instances were more frequent in traditional public schools.
But researchers warned that because of the wide variety in school organization and governance, it is difficult to make direct comparisons between traditional public schools and charter schools.
“School Safety in Urban Charter and Traditional Public Schools” is available from the National Charter School Research Project.