East Lansing, MI - Student achievement in charter schools in six Great Lakes
states is lower than in traditional public schools according to a new study
funded by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. The
study also finds, however, that student achievement in charter schools is
improving over time.
The study, "Evaluating the Impact of Charter Schools on Student Achievement:
A Longitudinal Look at the Great Lakes States," was conducted by Gary Miron,
Chris Coryn and Dawn Mackety of the Western Michigan University Evaluation
Center.
The researchers compared student achievement in math and reading in charter
and traditional public schools over a five-year period in Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The study's primary finding is that student test results at nearly
two-thirds of the charter schools in the Great Lakes region are lower than
predicted when compared with those in demographically similar public
schools. Despite charter performance in the region overall, at the school
level they note that, "a number of successful charter schools are
consistently performing better than expected."
The researchers found that the lowest charter performance was in Indiana and
Ohio - states with the newest charter school initiatives. They write while
these two states "have the lowest current results, over time their charter
schools are making relatively large improvements." The improvement of these
two states has been greater than states with the longest-standing charter
school laws - Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The authors note that,
"Illinois has the highest relative results, perhaps because some 15 percent
of its charter schools have closed since 2000; when poor performing schools
close, aggregate results for remaining schools rise."
According to lead researcher Gary Miron, "There is a clear relationship
between the performance of charter schools and the willingness and ability
of authorizers to close poor performing schools. Closing such schools sends
a message to other schools that they need to be highly accountable. Caps in
states such as Illinois and Michigan have helped to slow the growth of
charter schools and have increased the pressure for accountability."
Miron concludes, "The intention of charter school reform was not to replicate the existing system, but to improve it by example and through competition. If charter schools are going to do this, they must demonstrate accountability and should outperform similar district schools on standardized tests."
Find the complete report "Evaluating the Impact of Charter Schools on
Student Achievement: A Longitudinal Look at the Great Lakes States," on the
web at: http://www.greatlakescenter.org.
The mission of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice is
to identify, develop, support, publish and widely disseminate empirically
sound research on education policy and practices designed to improve the
quality of public education for all students within the Great Lakes Region.
Visit the Great Lakes Center website at: http://www.greatlakescenter.org
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