How do the test scores of California charter schools compare to those of traditional public schools?
The study reviewed both charter and traditional public school performance on achievement tests at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. After adjusting for differences in student demographics it found that: • Charter high schools score modestly higher than noncharters on the Academic Performance Index and in English, but do not score as well in math. • Charter middle schools outscore noncharters on all measures, but the differences are relatively small. • Charter elementary schools score lower than noncharter elementary schools on all measures, with differences in the small to moderate range. • A separate analysis found that charter schools that are affiliated with charter management organizations (CMOs) or charter networks generally score higher than non charters, across all grade levels.
