Exploding the Charter School Myth

A federal study showing that fourth graders in charter schools score worse in reading and math than their public school counterparts should cause some soul-searching in Congress.

The study, based on data from 2003 on students’ performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, found charter school students significantly behind their non-charter-school counterparts. But it also showed that not all charter schools are created equal.

On average, charter schools that were affiliated with public school districts performed just as well as traditional public schools. That may be a disappointment to advocates who expected them to show clear superiority. But the real stunner was the performance of free-standing charter schools, which have no affiliation with public school systems and are often school districts unto themselves. It was this grouping that showed the worst performance. - New York imes
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The study found that in 2003, fourth graders in traditional public schools scored an average of 4.2 points better in reading than comparable students in charter schools on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, often called the nation’s report card. Students in traditional schools scored an average of 4.7 points better in math than comparable students in charter schools.
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The report, written by the Educational Testing Service, and issued by the federal government, was apparently somewhat hidden on the government's education web site. After the American Federation of Teachers found and publicized, the Department of Education published the full report. The report compared a nationally representative sample of 376,000 students at nearly 6,800 regular public schools with 6,500 students at 150 charter schools, controlling for race, socioeconomic status and other factors.

It's no wonder that the government, specifically this administration, tried to hide the report. Public money for private schools has long been the desire of the administration, and it has push the advantages of charter schools. Those advantages have not yet shown up, however, and it is uncertain that they ever will. The administration and the school voucher proponents say that public schools are a faulure, and, to an extent, they are. But what does it say about charter schools when they don't even get the results of public schools?

You have to laugh at the federal commissioner of education statistics, Mark S. Schneider, who, upon finally releasing the report, said the agency should no longer put its official imprimatur on research comparing charter with public schools and leave such studies to independent researchers. Later, he "showed discomfort on Tuesday at taking a stand on which kind of school performed better."

“We know they (charter schools) are not doing harm, so they pass a fundamental test of policy analysis.”