The rush to release findings and the electronic availability of conference and discussion papers means that more and more research has not gone through a professional peer review process before release. Therefore the job of evaluating education research often falls to education reporters. Making Sense of Charter School Studies: A Reporter’s Guide draws from blue-ribbon Charter School Achievement Consensus Panel report findings and can be used as well to interpret other charter school or general education research.
While CRPE cannot prevent people from doing bad charter research, we can try to diminish its impact by educating the media and the decision-makers about what questions to ask, and by providing them with information about the limits of any new research.
Updated Spring 2015
