Recent evidence confirms what advocates and parents have long known to be true: Charter schools work. Free of collective bargaining agreements and other restrictions imposed on traditional public schools, charters deliver outsize academic benefits to those students who are lucky enough to attend them.
But what about the kids who get “left behind?” What effect do charters have on the vast majority of students who are not lucky enough to attend them? Critics have long maintained that the success of charter schools comes only at the expense of traditional public schools. New evidence from New York City, however, reveals that charter schools do no harm to students in traditional public schools. In fact, charter competition correlates with a modest increase in reading proficiency for traditional public school students.
