The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics has compared the performance of students in district and charter schools, reporting, “After adjusting for student characteristics, charter school mean scores in reading and mathematics were lower, on average, than those for public noncharter schools.” While there is reason to be quite cautious about inferring policy implications from such research—because it cannot determine how much students are actually learning during the school year and because charters spend less than do district schools—the results are hardly compelling. Stig Leschly, executive director of the Newark Charter School Fund, has observed that only about 200 of the thousands of existing charter schools “really close the achievement gap.”
He also is skeptical of several other studies.
Y’all are acting surprised that this is not working. Okay, maybe not.:)
This was a good read and a nice piece of apologetic literature about the perceived benefits of vouchers and charters. Not to say that these programs are flawed, but you can’t force anyone to learn.
“After adjusting for student characteristics,
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Adjusting for characteristics????
Whoa! Plenty of opportunity for mischief there!