This report adds to the pile of evidence that good charter schools elicit positive student achievement--and that something about New York City’s approach is worth understanding if not emulating. A follow-up to its June 2009 national study, CREDO undertook this one exclusively in Gotham. Lo and behold, it found that NYC charters have a significant positive effect on overall student achievement. In math, 51 percent of charter schools showed learning gains statistically larger than those shown by traditional district-operated schools, while 33 percent showed no difference and 16 percent fared worse. Gains in reading were less striking but still impressive. The study also disaggregated results by the number of years a student attended a charter, and found that, while first year charter pupils perform slightly worse than their district agemates in reading (and better in math), after three years their gains significantly outpace traditional school pupils in both subjects. Moreover, black and Hispanic charter school students perform significantly better than their traditional school counterparts. You can read it here.
Center for Research on Education Outcomes
January 2010
