One of the most oft-repeated criticisms of charter schools (and by, association, the whole idea of school choice) and is that they don’t perform as well, or at least any better than, their long-established traditional public school counterparts. “Evidence” of this argument is usually offered up in the form of carefully selected statistics from this or that study which “prove” the point. But often those numbers are skewed or isolated from other statistics or studies that tend to moderate such findings or prove them wrong entirely. A prime example comes from Florida, where a recent analysis of data for the 2015-2016 school year reveals that the state’s charter school students made greater learning gains than their peers in traditional public schools.
Yes, that’s correct. According to the Florida Department of Education’s just-released annual report on “Student Achievement in Florida’s Charter Schools: A Comparison of the Performance of Charter School Students with Traditional Public School Students,” the state’s charter schools present a very different picture from what critics would have you think. It also provides an impressive example of what can be achieved when a state fosters a school choice environment that allows opportunity and innovation to flourish. Here are some numbers:
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On state exams, charter students outperformed their peers in traditional schools in 65 out of 77 comparisons;
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Charter students learned more from one year to the next in 82 of 96 comparisons that focused on learning gains;
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In 20 out of 22 comparisons, charters had smaller achievement gaps in math, English and social studies between white students and their black and Hispanic peers.
For the statisticians among us who want to know more, the report makes 195 comparisons in three areas (absolute achievement, learning gains and achievement gaps) each of which includes overall, as well as sub-group, comparisons across subject areas and grade levels.
The data are based on more than 4.2 million test scores, derived from student performance on the Florida Standards Assessments for English language arts and mathematics (including algebra end-of-course exams) as well as the statewide assessments for science and social studies. If you’d like to learn even more, you can find the report here.
It’s worth noting that Florida is not the end-all-be-all when it comes to the strength of their charter school law. It could do more to reduce bureaucracy and spark more innovations throughout the state, which still badly needs great schools for all students.
That would require providing more equitable funding, as well as permitting additional authorizers, like universities, to approve and manage schools. The good news is that there is at least a strong appeals process in the state, so that when school districts arbitrarily reject applications there is recourse.
Even with its B-rated law, Florida’s charter efforts provide clear evidence of what’s possible when educators and parents are empowered to engage directly in creating educational opportunities through chartering. It’s a great example for others to follow, and it has the statistics to prove it.
Jeanne Allen (@JeanneAllen) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is CEO and founder of the Center for Education Reform.
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