Reading & Literacy Report Roundup

25-State Study Finds Charter Schools Improving

By Katie Ash — July 09, 2013 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Charter school students are outpacing their peers in regular public school districts in reading and performing at about the same level as traditional public school students in mathematics, according to a new multistate study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes.

The study, which analyzes charter school performance in 25 states, the District of Columbia, and New York City, found that students attending charter schools gain the equivalent of an additional eight days of learning in reading over the course of a year compared with regular public school students. In math, charter school students experience about the same amount of learning gains as their regular public school peers.

Both findings indicate an upward trend in performance for charter school students, when compared with the research center’s 2009 survey, which looked at charter school student performance in 16 states and found that those schools lagged behind their regular public school counterparts in both subjects.

The new and expanded study shows that a quarter of charter schools outperformed regular public school districts in reading, and 29 percent did so in math, while 19 percent performed significantly worse in reading and 31 percent performed significantly worse in math.

The study also found academic gains in both subjects in the 16 states studied in the 2009 report. Researchers credit the gains to closures of poor-performing charters and an overall drop in performance in the regular public schools.

The Stanford researchers drew comparisons between charter school students’ and regular public school students’ performance through a “virtual-control method” in which charter school students were compared to demographically and academically matched “virtual twins” who attend regular public schools where the charter students would otherwise have been enrolled.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the July 11, 2013 edition of Education Week as 25-State Study Finds Charter Schools Improving

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Science Webinar
Making Science Stick: The Engaging Power of Hands-On Learning
How can you make science class the highlight of your students’ day while
achieving learning outcomes? Find out in this session.
Content provided by LEGO Education
Teaching Profession Webinar Key Insights to Elevate and Inspire Today’s Teachers
Join this free half day virtual event to energize your teaching and cultivate a positive learning experience for students.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Achievement Webinar
Student Success Strategies: Flexibility, Recovery & More
Join us for Student Success Strategies to explore flexibility, credit recovery & more. Learn how districts keep students on track.
Content provided by Pearson

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Reading & Literacy Opinion How a Podcast About Reading Promoted Sweeping Instructional Changes
Emily Hanford catalyzed the "science of reading" push but has mixed feelings about some reforms that followed.
8 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Reading & Literacy Opinion Don’t Blame ‘Science of Reading’ for Low Scores
We need better teacher training, the right materials, and engaging literacy-rich programs for schools, writes Angélica Infante-Green.
Angélica Infante-Green
5 min read
Collage illustration of students learning to read, literacy
Vanessa Solis/Education Week + iStock/Getty Images
Reading & Literacy Quiz Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About Cultivating Student Engagement in Reading?
Answer 7 questions about cultivating student engagement in reading.
Reading & Literacy Q&A Why Reading Support Classes Help High Schoolers Succeed
Biology, literature, calculus, U.S. history—all high school courses, regardless of subject, require a strong literacy skills.
4 min read
Jennifer Norrell, superintendent of East Aurora School District 131, stands for a portrait at the Resilience Education Center in Aurora, Ill., on Dec. 4, 2024.
Jennifer Norrell, superintendent of East Aurora School District 131, at the Resilience Education Center in Aurora, Ill., on Dec. 4, 2024.
Jamie Kelter Davis for Education Week