Charter Schools 2000: Fourth Year Report This

¶ … Charter Schools 2000: Fourth Year Report This study makes the powerful assumption that the student/teacher ratio in a school correlates to the quality of education enjoyed by the students. Specifically, the lower the student/teacher ratio, the stronger the school is. The study finds the following data: First, in 1998-99, most charter schools had a slightly lower teacher to student ratio than did all public schools in the 27 charter states (in 1997-98). The median student/teacher ratio for charter schools was 16.0 as compared to 17.2 for all public schools.

(Fourth Year, 1) The disparity between charter and all public schools in the median teacher to student teacher ratio was about two students per teacher at the primary, K-12, and "other" grade levels. The gap was less than one at the elementary, K-8, middle, middle-high, and high school levels.

(ibid) The most extreme disparity between the charter school and the all public school median student/teacher ratio was at the ungraded schools, with ungraded charter schools having a much higher student to teacher ratio, 18.8 students per teacher, as compared to 8.8 students per teacher in other public schools. (ibid) A even higher proportion of all public schools had student to teacher ratios in the mid-range (16-20 students per teacher), while charter schools were more likely to have both smaller and larger class sizes.

Some instances of high student to teacher ratios for charter schools -- especially at the high school level -- may reflect the school's use of non-traditional educational approaches such as self-paced computer assisted instruction and distance learning. (ibid) The research was carried out using a great percentage of public and charter schools, which lends credence to the study's findings. However, one of the gravest failings of the study was the assumption (mentioned above) that student/teacher ratio relates directly to school quality and education quality.

Achievement in Charter Schools and Regular Public Schools in the United States: Understanding the Differences - December 2004 In this study, Caroline Huxby finds that charter schools are definitely stronger than general public schools, after selecting for a number of limitations on the data. The study finds that a higher percentage of students in established charter schools are judged proficient on the state reading and math examinations than in the nearest traditional public school.

If a charter school has been operating for more than nine years, ten percent more students are scoring at or above the proficiency level in both subjects. For charter schools in operation from five to eight years, five percent more students reach proficiency in reading than their public school peers. (Harvard, 1) The advantage in the math subjects is four percent. For charter schools that have been in operation from between one and four years, the advantage in reading is 2.5%.

Overall, five percent of charter school students are more likely to be proficient in reading and three percent are more likely to be proficient in math on their state's exams. (Harvard, 1) The valuable data derived from this study (the data that seem defensible) involve the data that ten percent more students are scoring at or above the proficiency level in both subjects if a charter school has been operating for more than nine years. However, the data that does not seem as defensible involve the differences of 4 and 2.5%.

These data seem hardly statistically significant, especially in light of the 10% figure earlier. The data seem well within the standard deviation away from the mean, and not at all as important as data dealing with 10 years of charter schools should be. The data might just be random, or subject to the placebo effect. Nation's Charter Schools Lagging Behind, U.S Test Scores Reveal This study contradicts the first two studies described in this paper.

The data show fourth graders attending charter schools performing about half a year behind students in other public schools in both reading and math. (Schemo, 1) This is an incredible statistic. According to the report by Schemo, only 25% of the fourth graders attending charters were proficient in reading and math, against 30% who were proficient in reading, and 32% in math, at traditional public schools. (ibid_ Since charter schools are concentrated in large cities, often in poor inner-city neighborhoods, the researchers also contrasted urban charters to.