In public education, success can put a target on your back. Just look at charter schools.
The Nation’s Report Card is a biennial measure of student achievement. The results are almost uniformly depressing. Students haven’t recovered from COVID learning loss, and things look especially bleak for the lowest achievers.
But education analyst Matthew Ladner, writing for the website Next Steps, found a bright spot. Across the country, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who attended charter schools scored better than their peers in traditional public schools.
He found that in eighth grade reading, 48 percent of disadvantaged students in district schools scored at a basic level or better. But among those charter school students, it was 54 percent. Some of the differences were dramatic. In Massachusetts, 47 percent of those students in district schools scored at a basic level or above. But in charter schools, it was 69 percent. In Nevada, 55 percent of disadvantaged students in district schools scored at basic or better. In charter schools, it was 61 percent.
There was a similar trend in eighth grade math. Just 36 percent of students with low socioeconomic status in district schools performed at a basic level or better. But among those students in charter schools, 43 percent did.
In New York, charter school students significantly outperformed students in district schools in achieving basic or higher scores in math — 64 percent to 39 percent. In Nevada, the difference was negligible. The achievement rate of charter schools was 1 percentage point higher than that of district schools.
There are always caveats with such statistics, especially because samples can be small. But the nationwide difference “is statistically significant, meaning that it is unlikely to have been caused by chance,” Ladner wrote.
It also squares with mounds of other research showing that charter schools provide better learning outcomes.
The next steps should be obvious. Ensure charter schools are on an equal footing with traditional public schools, especially when it comes to money for capital projects. Eliminate restrictions on charter school growth. Celebrate charter schools as a public school success story.
But it’s this very success that makes some in the education establishment so opposed to them. Last month, Chris Daly, a Nevada State Education Association lobbyist, bemoaned “the rapid growth of separate and unequal charter schools in Nevada.” Around the country, many Democrats have tried to limit the growth of charter schools or reduce their funding.
Because charter schools are generally nonunionized, their growth threatens a major Democratic special interest group. But for those who prioritize helping students, charters remain a bright spot.
