Back in August, private researchers used the National Assessment of Educational Progress to weigh test scores between children in charter schools and regular public schools. The results were discouraging for the charter school movement — their kids were doing worse than comparable students in traditional public schools.
The Department of Education blasted the findings, saying the data was unreliable. A new, administration-approved study would set the record straight and show how great charter schools are, right? Not exactly.
A new study commissioned by the Department of Education, which compares the achievement of students in charter schools with those attending traditional public schools in five states, has concluded that the charter schools were less likely to meet state performance standards.
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“In five case-study states, charter schools are less likely to meet state performance standards than traditional public schools,” the report said. Those states, Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and North Carolina, all have made significant public investments in charter schools.
The report’s finding appears to present a new complication for the Bush administration as it seeks to carry out the No Child Left Behind law, which says that public schools failing to meet achievement objectives over several years may be converted into charter schools.
“How can we consider charter schools to be an option for dealing with failing public schools when this study, commissioned by the Department of Education, shows that about half of them don’t appear to be doing any better at meeting performance standards than other public schools?” asked Gary Miron, a researcher at Western Michigan State University who has written a book on charter schools.
Oops.
Well, at least the administration was honest enough to share this data with the public, right? Hardly. This study was originally commissioned in 1998 and delivered to Bush’s Department of Education in June. Needless to say, administration officials sat on the results until five days ago — and even then only released the study after the New York Times filed a Freedom of Information Request last month to obtain it.
Par for the course from this gang.