Another Charter Study: Same Results, No Difference by dianeravavitch

Yet another charter school study finds no difference between performance of charter schools and public schools. Why do reformers continue to push charters as the "answer" in cities across the nation, like Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Detroit, etc.? Do reformers read research? This one was conducted by Mathematica Policy Research and the charter-friendly Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington. Here is the summary from the U.S. Department of Education's "What Works Clearinghouse": What is this study about? The study examined the effect of non-profit charter-school management organizations (CMOs) on middle school student achievement, high school graduation rates, and post-secondary enrollment rates. Researchers estimated the effectiveness of each CMO separately by comparing the outcomes of CMO school students with those of matched non-CMO school students. What did the study find? The study found that, on average, CMOs did not have a statistically significant impact on middle school student performance on state assessments in math, reading, science, or social studies. Similarly, there was not a statistically significant impact of CMOs on graduation rates and rates of post-secondary enrollment for high school students. However, there was substantial variation in the direction, magnitude and statistical significance of the impacts for individual CMOs. Citation Furgeson, J., Gill, B., Haimson, J., Killewald, A., McCullough, M., Nichols-Barrer, I., . . . Lake, R. (2012). Charter-school management organizations: Diverse strategies and diverse student impacts. Report prepared by Mathematica Policy Research and the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research. dianerav | September 7, 2012 at 7:45 am | Categories: Charter Schools | URL:http://wp.me/p2odLa-1OJ