According to CRPE's analysis, this proportion of students in Newark students in "beat the odds" schools was significantly higher than almost all other cities. Only Cincinnati runs a close second.
So what are we to make of Newark's improvement? Simply this: the expansion of charter schools in Newark has helped all students. As
Andrew Martin explains, "the percentage of black Newark students attending a school that beat the state proficiency average has tripled in the past 10 years, and this increase can be attributed almost entirely to the growth of the charter sector." This fact runs contrary to the narrative voiced by opponents of choice who claim that school choice will isolate hard-to-educate students in resource-starved traditional schools, a view just echoed, sadly, by
Hillary Clinton (who really ought to know better).
Let's get beyond this false dichotomy that divides the organic whole of a public education landscape into a meaningless division of charter and traditional. Such an approach is, at best, self-indulgent and, at worse, detrimental to children. Here's what matters: in Newark, more students have access to seats at high-performing schools and the district is now one of the highest-performing urban districts in the country. That's what matters to families in N.J.'s largest school district and that's what should matter to anyone who cares about public education.