One of the nation’s most long-awaited and momentous reports on K-12 performance was released this summer, shedding new light on public charter schools that are getting the greatest results for students. It’s worth reviewing the detailed findings now that over 1 million Arizona students head back to school.
Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) report is one of the largest of its kind ever conducted, analyzing the academic performance of more than 2 million charter students across 29 states, including Arizona. Students attending traditional district schools were used as the control group.
The results: nationwide, students who attended a public charter school gained the equivalent each academic year of 16 extra days of reading instruction and six extra days of math, relative to their district school peers. Even more striking were the findings for low-income students, who annually gained the equivalent of 23 additional days of reading instruction and 17 days in math, as well as Hispanic/Latino students (30 extra days for reading; 19 for math) and Black students (35 days in reading; 29 for math).
Think about that – these charter students are learning the equivalent of a month or more of extra instruction vs. their district-school peers. Now, that is how you close the achievement gap.
“This growth represents accelerated learning gains for tens of thousands of students across the country,” stated Stanford’s CREDO. “Each student and each school is a proof point that shows that it is possible to change the trajectory of learning for students at scale, and it is possible to dramatically accelerate growth for students who have traditionally been underserved by traditional school systems.”
These results may not be a surprise in Arizona, where public charter schools have for years led the way in academic performance among students of virtually every demographic and subgroup. I’m reminded of why we founded Legacy Traditional Schools in the first place over 15 years ago. We wanted to make sure our own kids and other Arizona children could get the kind of quality education we couldn’t find anyplace else. What began with a single school has grown into 20 Legacy campuses and online instruction serving tens of thousands of students across Arizona.
Talk about people voting with their feet!
This points to one more significant CREDO finding regarding the performance of multi-charter networks, like Legacy, that are led by a charter management organization (CMO). The report found students attending these CMO-led charter networks received, on average, the equivalent of 27 extra days of reading instruction each school year, and 23 days of math instruction. Imagine the difference that makes for a charter student over the course of their entire education.
None of this means there’s something magical about being a charter that makes for a great school. Whether a school is charter, district or private, we have found the key ingredients for success include supported, innovative teachers and administrators, a challenging curriculum, and involved parents and families.
But it’s clear from a growing body of research that charter schools across Arizona and nationwide are getting results and making a life-changing difference for students. And that is a back-to-school message we can all celebrate.
Aaron Hale is a founder of Legacy Traditional Schools, a high-performing network of public charter schools in Arizona, Nevada and Texas, as well as online.
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