CREDO Study Shows DC Charter Schools Outperform Traditional Public Schools
Today the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford (CREDO) published the long-awaited update to their 2009 study of charter school outcomes. Back in 2009 CREDO reported that charter schools nationally, and in DC, did not perform much better than traditional public schools (read 2009 report).
This year’s report paints the same dismal picture nationally. But in DC the story is completely different. DC charter schools significantly outperform traditional public schools. In fact, the study says that, on average, a student at a DC charter gets the equivalent educational benefit each year of 99 extra days in school. That’s like getting a year and a half worth of school for every school year.
These results puts DC in an elite group of states with charter sectors that significantly outperform their district peers -- states like Tennessee, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Louisiana. DC outperformed them all, second in the nation only to Rhode Island.
Credit for this extraordinary performance goes first to the leaders, faculty and staff of our 102 charter school campuses. It is their hard work, their innovative practices, and their dedication that produced these results. DC parents have long recognized the quality of our charter schools – that’s why we have 22,000 names on charter school waitlist. Now a wider audience knows as well.
Authorizer quality matters as well, as the CREDO study points out. We’re proud of the high bar we set for quality. I noted in a February blog post that a full third of the DC charter schools that ever opened have subsequently closed. Had the results of those 27 closed schools been included in the CREDO results, its very unlikely our results would have been as strong. PCSB’s commitment to quality predates my PCSB tenure (which began in January 2012). Indeed CREDO’s 2013 results are for school year 2011, when PCSB was headed by my predecessor, Jo Baker.
PCSB’s independence helps a lot. We are largely free of the political or bureaucratic pressures that most authorizers have to contend with. We thank Mayor Vincent C. Gray and the D.C. Council for protecting this independence.
I believe a third factor contributes to today’s good news: the remarkable factors unique to DC. DC has one of the best charter school laws in the nation, and some of the highest per-pupil funding. As the nation’s capital we are a magnet for talent, boasting some of the nation’s finest home-grown school leaders. Most of our charter schools start with children who are three years old, a benefit few other states offer. Access to appropriate facilities isn’t as easy as it should be, but it’s better than in many states.
And we are blessed with an ecosystem of third-party organizations that support our leaders: Charter support organizations like the Association of Chartered DC Public Schools and FOCUS. Academic support organizations like Achievement Network, Reading Partners and the DC Special Education Co-Op. Human Capital organizations like Teach for America, the Capital Teaching Residency, the Urban Teacher Center, The New Teacher Project, New Leaders for New Schools, and Charter Board Partners. Philanthropies like CityBridge, Flamboyan, NewSchools Venture Fund, Fight for Children, Venture Philanthropy Partners, and Cafritz Foundation. And college support organizations like the College Success Foundation, College Summit, and so many more. It truly takes a village, and DC is uniquely fortunate to have a thriving one.
Charter critics will use the disappointing national results to argue that the 21 year-old charter experiment has failed. We in DC can argue the opposite: with the right school leaders, the right environment, and the right authorizer, charter schools can realize their potential to radically improve public education.