NC CHARTERS DO WELL IN READING

Charter Schools in North Carolina Perform Significantly Better Than Their Traditional Public School Peers in Reading

A new report issued by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University found that there is a wide variance in the quality of the nation’s several thousand charter schools with, in the aggregate, students in charter schools not faring as well as students in traditional public schools.

The analysis looks at student achievement growth on state achievement tests in both reading and math with controls for student demographics and eligibility for program support such as free or reduced-price lunch and special education. The analysis includes the most current student achievement data from 15 states and the District of Columbia and gauges whether students who attend charter schools fare better than if they would have attended a traditional public school.



North Carolina

A supplemental report, with an in-depth examination of the results for charter schools in North Carolina found that reading gains were significantly higher and math gains significantly lower in charter school students compared to their traditional public school peers. For students that are low income, charter schools had a larger and more positive effect on reading and no difference in math compared to their traditional public school peers. African-American students performed significantly below their traditional public school counterparts in math, with no discernable difference in reading.

The results also suggest that new charter school students in North Carolina do about the same in reading and have an initial loss of learning in math compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools. In subsequent years, charter school students show no significantly different or better gains in reading and math from charter school attendance compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools.

Overall State Results

The report found that achievement results varied by states that reported individual data. States with reading and math gains that were significantly higher for charter school students than would have occurred in traditional schools included: Arkansas, Colorado (Denver), Illinois (Chicago), Louisiana and Missouri.

States with reading and math gains that were either mixed or were not different than their peers in the traditional public school system included: California, the District of Columbia, Georgia and North Carolina.

States with reading and math gains that were significantly below their peers in the traditional public school system included: Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas.

Full report and executive summary.

North Carolina report.