Policy And Research: A Shotgun Wedding In New Jersey
Earlier today, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced his plan to open 23 new charter schools in his state. Just hours before this announcement, the NJ education department issued an analysis of new data on the performance of charter schools in the state (during the 2009-10 school year). In an accompanying press release, the department claims that “the data affirms [sic] the need for Governor Christie’s reform proposals to grow the number of high-quality charter schools…”
The release also contains several other extremely bold assertions that the results support expanding the state’s charter sector. The title of the actual report, which contains only tables, is: “Living Up to Expectations: Charter Schools in New Jersey Outperforming District Schools.”
Unfortunately, however, the analysis could barely pass muster if submitted by a student in one of the state’s high school math classes (charter or regular public).
It seems that the department compared the overall proficiency rates of each of the state’s 70 or so charter schools with the rates of the district in which they are located, as well as with the overall state average (for the
