What Can NJ Really Learn from the CREDO Report on Charter Schools?

Here's my latest post on WHYY's Newsworks on the CREDO study, which examines charter school performance in NJ.

Last week Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) released a report called "Charter School Outcomes in New Jersey." The analysis has received national attention, and no shortage of spin. Charter school advocates crow at results that show increased student achievement, especially in Newark. Charter school opponents snark at poor outcomes for kids in charter schools in Camden and Trenton.

The charter school wars in New Jersey seem to generate an environment that does not allow nuances and provokes stridency on both sides of the aisle. Every statistic becomes a rhetorical weapon - either charters are a panacea for all our educational ills or charters are a privatization scheme contrived by greedy hedge fund managers. None of this gaming is useful for kids or teachers.

Is it possible to leave political jockeying at the door and look at the CREDO report through an exclusively educational lens? Let's give it a try.

Read the rest here.