Specifically, students enrolled in urban charter schools receive the equivalent of 40 additional days of learning growth (0.055 s.d.’s) in math and 28 days of additional growth (0.039 s.d.’s) in reading compared to their matched peers in TPS [traditional public schools]. These figures compare favorably to those found for the national charter sector as a whole, where CREDO’s National Charter School Study found the national average impact of charter enrollment was 7 additional days of learning per year in reading (0.01 s.d.’s) and no significant difference in mathNewark is highlighted as a city where student improvement is “dramatic" and one of the “highest performing charter sectors.” The report notes that “the Bay Area, Boston, D.C., Memphis, New Orleans, New York City and Newark are much stronger than their TPS peers in Math. The Bay Area, Boston, Memphis, Nashville and Newark also stand out with respect to annual gains for charter school students in reading.”
The results of this year’s CREDO report are proof of the effectiveness and promise of charter public school education. While not perfect, and no method is, the report shows that charter public schools are changing lives and continue to show achievement in spite of substantial restrictions -- both economically and politically. In some of New Jersey’s most troubled and disadvantaged communities, charter public schools are succeeding in closing the educational achievement gap with our state’s more wealthy communities, despite receiving an average 70% of each education dollar compared to their traditional public school counterparts. Charter public schools are doing so under tremendous opposition and calls for elimination from the educational establishment. The CREDO report results prove that New Jersey’s charter public schools are doing more with less and are the future of effective public education in our state.
Labels: charter schools, Newark