Thursday, May 27, 2010

NYC charter schools now outperform in science and social studies as well as math and reading




The New York Post reports Charter Schools Soar!

The Post says new data from the New York City Department of Education shows the city’s eighth grade charter school students outscore regular public school students by 19 percentage points in social studies and by nearly 18 percentage points in science. In fourth grade last year, the city’s charter kids bested regular public school kids by nearly 10 percentage points in science, as well.

This adds to previously announced information that NYC charter school kids bested regular public school kids by about 9 points in math and reading.

Naturally, the local teachers union tried to discredit these findings, saying the kids in charter schools are better off than the regular public school students in the city.

However, most New York City charters are so popular that admission is by random lottery, which raises questions about the union’s allegations.

Further damaging the union’s allegations is the fact that not one, but two recent reports on New York City charters both concluded that the students in these schools definitely outperform their peers in the regular public school system. You can read about those two reports here and here.

Sadly, while NYC kids are getting fantastic results in their charter schools, Kentucky children are left totally out in the cold because charter schools are still unauthorized in the Bluegrass State. When will our legislature finally wake up to their responsibility as the final “buck stops here” agent for education in Kentucky and start a decent charter school program for our students?

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