Alexandria, Va. (March 24, 2010) – Today, the Center for Public Education (CPE) released a new report “Charter Schools: Finding Out the Facts” reviewing the fact and fiction behind charter schools.
For almost two decades, charter schools have evolved as a way to experiment with education innovations and provide public school choice. The charter school concept has attracted significant interest—and scrutiny—from the nation’s education leaders. While some hail charters as a model for raising student achievement, others are critical. But the public often has mistaken ideas about what charter schools are.
“There is currently a lack of research behind charter schools,” said Jim Hull, senior policy analyst at CPE. “This means that states may be heading into a reform strategy without a clear understanding of whether this is a promising path to take or not.”
In addition to state-by-state data on charters, the report includes the following key findings:
- Reliable charter school research is still in its infancy. One recent analysis rejected 70 out of the 210 studies it found. Many studies are descriptive snapshots of a school or district's achievement, rather than examining achievement across states or comparing charter school achievement to traditional public schools.
- Of the reliable research, studies generally showed that charter school students did better in elementary school reading and middle school math, but worse in high school. The recent CREDO study found that, overall, some (17%) charter schools do better than traditional public schools, but the majority do the same (46%) or worse (37%).
- Local education agencies (school boards) are the most common authorizers of charter schools.
- States with “multiple authorizers” -- i.e., various pathways for authorizing charter schools -- had the weakest student achievement data for charter students when compared to students at traditional public schools.
- Charter schools remain primarily an urban strategy. The National Charter School Research Project reports that 89 percent of U.S. school districts “have no charter schools within their boundaries, perhaps in large measure because so many school districts are so very small.”
- For profit education management organizations (EMOs) run about 16 percent of all charter schools. (Non-profit EMOs run about 13%.)
- Virtual charters are a small but growing segment of the market. However, very little research is available about the impact of these schools, and what is available indicates “mixed outcomes.”
- Charter schools generally are not drawing the best students away from local traditional public schools, and the racial composition of charters is similar to that of the traditional public schools the students previously attended.
“While it is imperative that more research and education must be done on charter schools and their impact on the traditional public schools in their communities, it is clear that charters are poised for more growth with the U.S. Department of Education Race to the Top competition, which provides a powerful incentive for states to boost their support for charters,” said Hull.
The report was authored by independent researchers Chuck Dervarics and Eileen O’Brien.
The Center for Public Education (www.centerforpubliceducation.org) is a national resource for credible and practical information about public education and its importance to the well-being of our nation. The Center provides up-to-date research, data, and analysis on current education issues and explores ways to improve student achievement and engage public support for public schools. The Center is an initiative of the National School Boards Association.
Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association (www.nsba.org) is a not-for-profit organization representing state associations of school boards and their 95,000 local school board members throughout the United States. Its mission is to work with and through all its State Association members to foster excellence and equity in public education through school board leadership. NSBA achieves that mission by representing the school board perspective in working with federal government agencies and national organizations that impact education, and provides vital information and services to state associations of school boards throughout the nation.
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View the report, “Charter Schools: Finding Out the Facts”:
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Organizing-a-school/Charter-schools-Finding-out-the-facts-At-a-glance/default.aspx