What You Need To Know About the NJ Charter School Study
Cross-Posted from Blue Jersey
Much ink has been spilled in the last two weeks over the release of the NJ charter schools report, published by Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO). Below is an index of commentary on the report. I encourage you to read as much as you can, but let me summarize it here:
- The report shows that the "benefits" of charters are almost all concentrated in Newark. Charters in the other major urban areas, in the suburbs, and in rural areas showed little to no gains - or even losses - in student achievement over public schools.
- CREDO only studied about half of the charters in New Jersey. The study did not compare "equivalent" schools; it matched charter students to their "academic peers" in public schools, a method that cannot account for "peer effect": the effect of attending a school with only those students who have similar motivation and family
Much ink has been spilled in the last two weeks over the release of the NJ charter schools report, published by Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO). Below is an index of commentary on the report. I encourage you to read as much as you can, but let me summarize it here:
- The report shows that the "benefits" of charters are almost all concentrated in Newark. Charters in the other major urban areas, in the suburbs, and in rural areas showed little to no gains - or even losses - in student achievement over public schools.
- CREDO only studied about half of the charters in New Jersey. The study did not compare "equivalent" schools; it matched charter students to their "academic peers" in public schools, a method that cannot account for "peer effect": the effect of attending a school with only those students who have similar motivation and family
