Charter School Growth and Replication

This 2013 two-volume report from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes focuses on growth patterns of charter schools and charter school management organizations (CMOs). The report finds that highquality can be achieved from the start and that school performance -- whether high, average or low -- tends to remain the same over time.

The report includes analysis of 167 CMOs and 1,372 schools in 25 states and notes that two-thirds of CMOs “start new schools that are of the same or slightly better quality as the existing portfolio,” but that the “lowest third of CMOs replicate more rapidly than middling or high-performing CMOs.” CMOs with support from the Charter School Growth Fund had "significantly higher learning gains than other CMOs or independent charter schools," according to the report.

The report also includes analysis of 38 education management organizations (EMOs), defined as organizations that provide operations under contract to charter schools and CMOs.