Urban charter schools score a win beyond cities, lesser showing
The Boston Globe
Peter Schworm, Globe Staff
May 10, 2004
More than 60 percent of urban charter schools in Massachusetts outpaced comparable schools in their cities on the most recent MCAS exams, and several ranked among the state's highest performers among schools that primarily serve poor and minority children.
Statewide, however, charter schools collectively fared worse than traditional public schools on the tests, according to a Globe analysis of state Department of Education statistics. More than half 54 percent of charter schools were below average on math and English MCAS exams in 2003.
As the state Senate prepares this week to vote on a charter school moratorium, the Globe analysis underscores the gains charter schools in lower-income areas have made, and helps explain their appeal to parents in those communities. Of 26 urban charter schools across the state, 16 exceeded their local school system's overall MCAS performance in 2003, often by a significant margin.
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The test scores of charter schools like Roxbury Preparatory Charter School, the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School in Hyde Park, and Community Day Charter School in Lawrence ranked among the top handful of all public schools with students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds, according to an analysis of MCAS data by the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education.
Created by the 1993 Education Reform Act, charters are supposed to excel because they are free to design courses, hire staff, and control their budgets. In exchange for that freedom, the state reviews charters every five years and can close the schools that do not perform well academically. The state Board of Education has exercised that power once, in 2002, when it shut down the Lynn Community Charter School.
Charter school supporters said the findings about urban charters bolster their argument that broader educational choice and small, autonomous schools can lead to better student achievement.
"This is what happens when schools are given increased flexibility, and with that flexibility comes very high standards," said Marc Kenen, executive director of the Massachusetts Charter School Association.
But Paul Reville , executive director of the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy at Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth or MassINC, said the jury is still out on charters' effectiveness.
"I don't think the evidence on charter schools' educational achievement is conclusive," he said.
Critics note that charters as a group still trail their traditional school counterparts on state tests, yet they typically enroll lower percentages of limited-English speakers or children with significant disabilities.
The Globe reviewed five years of MCAS results and compared MCAS proficiency rates for charter school students in math and English with local and state averages in 39 of the 50 charter schools now open in Massachusetts. The analysis did not include 11 schools because they test fewer than 10 students, which excludes them from state Department of Education data.
Urban charter schools as a group also narrowly outperformed their local district schools the previous two years.
However, some urban charter schools ranked among the state's worst, even when compared with schools with similar demographics. At Benjamin Banneker Charter School in Cambridge, just 6 percent of the sixth grade achieved proficiency in math. No fourth-grader at Lowell Community Charter School achieved proficiency in math or English.
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