Charter Schools Test Scores/Commentary

Barb Williams forwarded this article by Diana Jean Schemo:

The data shows fourth graders attending charter schools performing about half a year behind students in other public schools in both reading and math. Put another way, only 25 percent of the fourth graders attending charters were proficient in reading and math, against 30 percent who were proficient in reading, and 32 percent in math, at traditional public schools.

Because charter schools are concentrated in cities, often in poor neighborhoods, the researchers also compared urban charters to traditional schools in cities. They looked at low-income children in both settings, and broke down the results by race and ethnicity as well. In virtually all instances, the charter students did worse than their counterparts in regular public schools.

Additional Coverage:

• NPR's Michele Norris also covers this story (Audio).
• OnPoint
• Counterpoint: Mickey Kaus takes a close look at the data. (Slate)
• The Wisconsin State Journal editorial page comments on the data.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 17, 2004 8:52 PM
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