Report Identifies America’s Best Charter Schools, Where Over 100,000 Kids Are Shown to Be Months Ahead of Peers
A recent study released this week has revealed astonishing results: a specific group of students in public charter schools are significantly outperforming their peers in other public schools.
According to the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), students attending schools supported by the Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) gain an average of four extra months of math learning and three extra months of reading learning each year compared to students in other public schools. The CSGF is a national non-profit organization that assists charter schools in expanding into multi-school networks.
What makes these schools stand out? Firstly, they are part of non-profit charter school networks such as Uncommon Schools, Houston Gateway, or KIPP LA. Secondly, they have been specifically selected to receive philanthropic support from the CSGF because their track records indicate that they are likely to open more high-quality schools.
These impressive academic gains are observed across a diverse range of students, including those who are black, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, English language learners, and students with special education needs.
These are the kind of results we should strive for when discussing the improvement of public schools, but unfortunately, they are rare in K-12 education.
Students in CSGF-supported schools Outperform Peers in other Charter and District Schools
By using their size, networks of high-performing charter schools are able to address challenging issues in public education, such as providing support for students with special needs. They are also able to quickly change direction when it benefits the students.
Unfortunately, positive data about charter schools are often dismissed with unfounded accusations and insinuations that the results are not genuine. Some argue that the success is solely due to selection bias and suggest that the students would have excelled regardless of attending charter schools.
Taking a more comprehensive approach, CREDO’s research in the charter school sector indicates that the longer students attend schools within charter networks (known as CMOs), the greater their academic gains. For example, in mathematics, students attending schools within charter networks gain, on average, about 34 additional days of learning in their first year compared to similar students in traditional district schools. By their third year in the same school, they gain 69 more days of learning, which is roughly double the growth.
Results for CMOs from the CREDO Study: Longer Attendance in Charter School Networks Leads to Stronger Academic Growth
These findings confirm previous research conducted by CREDO in 2013, which indicated that students who remain in charter schools for longer durations experience more significant academic growth than students in traditional public schools.
The CREDO results reinforce what we already know: good schools have a significant impact on the lives of children. Unfortunately, not every child has access to a high-quality public school.
The report also highlights that our most underserved students benefit from attending public schools that combine high expectations with appropriate support, such as the schools supported by the CSGF.
These findings are crucial, particularly considering that students of color comprise the majority of our nation’s public school system, and many believe that poverty and race present insurmountable barriers to learning.
While our schools are not perfect and educating students is challenging, academic achievement is just one way we help our children succeed and reach their full potential. High-quality charter schools still have much more work to do.
However, these results are monumental. The charter schools supported by the CSGF in this study would be the 26th largest public school system in the United States, with an enrollment of 107,109 students. Furthermore, since the time of CREDO’s last-referenced data in 2014–15, the CSGF’s schools have grown to educate over 300,000 students across 24 states. None of these schools even existed two decades ago.
These schools exist today because communities have shown their support for the best charter schools, even in the face of significant opposition.
While charter schools have been a controversial topic, families who desire better education for their children do not care whether their public school is a charter or district school; they simply want exceptional schools.
Communities should rally behind the best schools, regardless of whether they are charter or district schools, in order to provide a great education for all families. The CREDO study is the latest addition to a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the efficacy of high-quality charter school networks in creating outstanding public schools.
Alex Hernandez, a former high school math teacher and partner at the Charter School Growth Fund, lives with his family near Boulder, Colorado. The Walton Family Foundation and the Doris and Donald Fisher Fund are supporters of and the Charter School Growth Fund and funded the CREDO study.
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