DC’s Public Charter Schools Educate All Student Populations
Many people believe public charter schools only serve a population of students that may be “easier” to educate, which may lead to better learning outcomes. However, DC’s public charter schools serve a student population that is equally, or at times more, disadvantaged than students enrolled in DC’s traditional school system, while outperforming traditional schools.
DC’s public charter schools and traditional school system enroll almost equal shares of students who are at-risk for academic failure. Students are identified as at-risk if they are homeless, in the foster care system, qualify for welfare or food stamps (TANF or SNAP), or are a year behind their peers in high school. (Note: alternative and adult students are not identified as at-risk for funding purposes).
In addition, when compared to the traditional school system’s demographics, public charter schools educate a higher share of African American students and an equal share of Hispanic students. And data show that public charter schools serve a higher share of students eligible for free and reduced price lunch and a similar share of Limited English Proficiency and Special Education students.
A deeper look at the at-risk numbers shows DC’s public charter schools are more likely to have a more diverse student body than the traditional school system because most traditional schools are intended to primarily serve an in-boundary population (in practice, about 50 percent of the students attending a traditional school went to their in-boundary school in SY13-14). In addition, the traditional school system’s selective high schools might increase the concentration of students who are at-risk in other traditional schools. By comparison, public charter school seats are open by default to anyone in the city, regardless of location. The graph below shows that more public charter schools’ student populations are clustered around the city average of share of at-risk students (approximately 50 percent), whereas more traditional schools have shares of students who are at-risk that are very high or low when compared to the city average.
Most public charter schools educate between 40 and 70 percent of students considered at-risk. At the other extreme, the traditional school system has more schools with less than 10 percent of at-risk students and more than 70 percent of at-risk students.
A quick look at learning outcomes shows that a higher share of public charter school students score proficient or advanced on the state assessment (DC-CAS) than traditional school students overall, and across all subgroups, including those who are economically disadvantaged (based on family income and other factors). This higher achievement in an almost identical population should not be overlooked.
To close the achievement gap for low-income students, both traditional and public charter schools should identify schools and strategies that effectively serve students who are at-risk.
During the previous school year, public charter schools commonly supported at-risk students through supplementary academic interventions, additional student support staff, summer school, afterschool programming, and extended instructional time. DC Prep PCS, for example, provides intervention resources to students in a small group setting, which allows for more targeted attention. Among other services, Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS delivers intensive college-and-career activities to at-risk students, including SAT prep courses. Democracy Prep Congress Heights PCS is among the public charter schools that offer Saturday tutoring sessions.
With more years of providing targeted resources to support at-risk students, a close look at outcomes for these students over time will help schools to pinpoint which approaches are most successful.