Fact Checking Charters - Part IV

While the buzz remains concerning charters, some fact checking is in order regarding their performance in relationship to their counterpart traditional public schools.

Stanford Economist Margaret Raymond has published an extensive study (called CREDO)regarding math test scores of charter schools and similar public schools. The results speak for themselves. Ms. Raymond studied nearly one-half of the nation's charter schools, a monumental number indeed.

Ms. Raymond found that 17% of the charters had test scores superior to traditional public schools, 37% of the scores were worse than the traditional schools, and 46% of the charters had gains no different than similar public schools.

These numbers can be examined in a number of ways but, any way you cut it, they clearly indicate that traditional public schools are doing a terrific job of teaching math when compared to charters.

Though the study had no information regarding scores on reading, or other curriculum, the research does, nonetheless, offer some validation of the idea that traditional public schools do get the job done. One can also conclude that, on the whole, charters are not the 'end all' in terms of educating our nation's youth.

Before the public decides to bury traditional public schools, in favor of charters, people need to be aware of the facts. One fact is still apparent, the vast majority of traditional public schools offer an excellent education.

Dick