As we noted yesterday, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University released a study using data from 25 states along with New York City and the District of Columbia, and it had a lot of good news about academic achievement in public charter schools. Let’s take a closer look at some of the positive findings.
In the breakouts by demographic backgrounds, the statistically significant findings of the impact of attending a public charter school compared to a traditional school include:
Black students gained 14 days of learning in reading and 14 days of learning in math.
The learning gains for low-income black students in charter schools increase to 29 additional learning days in reading and 36 additional learning days in math.
Low-income Hispanic students gained 14 days of learning in reading and 22 days of learning in math.
For Hispanic students designated as English Language Learners (ELL), the increased learning jumps to 50 additional days in reading and 43 additional days in math.
Low-income students, regardless of race, gained 14 days of learning in reading and 22 days of learning in math.
ELL students, regardless of race, gained 36 days of learning in reading and 36 days of learning in math.
Students with disabilities gained 14 additional learning days in math.
The gains in learning days are a significant step toward closing the achievement gap—especially when students from disadvantaged backgrounds are showing the greatest positive impact from attending a public charter school. By grade level breakouts, middle school students gained the most additional learning days: 29 in reading and 36 in math. Elementary public charter school students gained 22 days in reading and 14 in math. The results in high school were not statistically significant, while multi-level schools had a negative impact on math results. Interestingly, being run by a non-profit management organization (CMO) did not result in any additional learning days in reading or math. However, independent charter schools gained 7 days of additional learning in reading. The number of years a student was enrolled in a public charter school had a great impact on their learning gains—with students who attended a public charter school the longest seeing the highest additional learning gains. Students enrolled in charter schools for one year saw negative results, while attending a charter for 2-4 years steadily increased learning gains in reading and math. Once a student is enrolled for four or more years in a public charter school, their learning gains outpace their traditional school peers by 50 days in reading and 43 days in math per year. Moving from the national results into state data, the biggest gains in additional learning days on the 2013 CREDO report were seen in Rhode Island, Tennessee, the District of Columbia, Louisiana, and Michigan.
2013 CREDO Results
Reading
Math
State
Standard Deviations
Days of Learning
Standard Deviations
Days of Learning
District of Columbia
0.10**
72
0.14**
101
Louisiana
0.07**
50
0.09**
65
Michigan
0.06**
43
0.06**
43
Rhode Island
0.12**
86
0.15**
108
Tennessee
0.12**
86
0.10**
72
Source: CREDO
Considering that the standard school year is 180 days for traditional district schools, public charter school students in Rhode Island are gaining nearly half a year (48 percent) more learning in reading and over half a year (60 percent more) learning time in math.
The 2013 CREDO results are consistent with an overall trend among more recent high quality charter school studies that show a positive impact on student performance (see here and here). As the CREDO report notes, the positive trends in public charter school student performance is uneven across the states and across schools. As a sector, we must continue to work to ensure that all public charter schools provide great learning opportunities for all students.
