New York mayor Bill de Blasio has made clear his aversion toward charter schools, singling out in particular his predecessor’s policy of allowing charter schools to co-locate with the city’s traditional public schools for free. But what impact has charter co-location actually had on New York’s public schools? This timely report from the Manhattan Institute digs in, measuring the academic growth of public school students in grades 3–8 in math and English language arts over five years. When the author compared individual students’ test scores before and after co-location or when the co-locating charter schools expanded (taking up more space in the building), he uncovered no evidence to suggest that co-locating with charter schools or losing space within a building has any significant impact—positive or negative—on public-school students’ test scores. The paper concluded with some advice for policy makers: when space is limited, weigh the costs (for the most part, simply the inconvenience of changing school schedules and moving classrooms) against the potential benefits to the charter-school kids.
SOURCE: Marcus Winters, “The Effect of Co-Locations on Student Achievement in NYC Public Schools,” Civic Report no. 85 (New York: Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, February 2014).
