Charter Schools Making the Grade in Urban Areas

2 May 2006

A NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOLS WEEK REPORT CARD:
CHARTER SCHOOLS MAKING THE GRADE IN URBAN AREAS
-More Data Reveals Charter Schools Can Work at Scale-
WASHINGTON, May 2, 2006---Charter schools are answering urban parents’ increasing demand for high-quality public schools, according to a new issue brief released today on Capitol Hill by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The Renaissance of Urban Education: Charter Schools in America’s Cities highlights five U.S. urban areas where charter schools are among the top academic performers, achieving notable results with low-income and minority students. As a whole, the report finds public charter schools in Buffalo, Chicago, Indianapolis, New York and Washington, D.C. outperform traditional public schools and often rival the highest-performing schools in surrounding suburban school districts.

“One of my last official acts as U.S. Secretary of Education in 1992 was to write a letter to every school superintendent in America urging them to create charter schools,” said U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who spoke at the briefing and who, along with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), introduced the Senate resolution recognizing May 1-6 as National Charter Schools Week. “Today, there are over 3,600 charter schools serving more than one million students in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Charter schools allow teachers the freedom to use their common sense, wisdom, experience and training to create schools that meet the needs of their children. I think the future is bright for charter schools across America. They give parents choices, teachers freedom, and they help children.”

The brief details encouraging, well-documented results in these five cities and illustrates how the charter model can and does work at scale.
Among the major findings:
• Buffalo: Fifteen public charter schools serve more than 5,500 students in the city, about 13 percent of public school enrollment. Data gathered by the Buffalo News reveals the city’s charter schools achieve better results than traditional public schools despite having a higher proportion of students living in poverty.
• Chicago: Twenty-two charter schools in Chicago serve 15,000 students. In 2003-2004, charters outperformed comparable neighborhood schools on 79 percent of relative student performance measures, according to Chicago Public Schools. These include test scores, attendance rates and graduation rates.
• District of Columbia: The nation’s capital is a hotbed of the charter school activity, with 51 charter schools serving almost 18,000 students or 25 percent of public school students in the city. Here, charters outperform non-charter schools in reading and math on the most recent national assessments.
• Indianapolis: There are 12 charter schools in the city serving over 2,700 students. In 2005, charters scored the same or higher than traditional public school students on 12 of 16 English and math tests in the 3rd through 10th grades.
• New York: This September, there will be 60 charters operating in the city. In 2005, charters in New York outperformed non-charters in surrounding schools districts in 4th and 8th grade reading and math.
“Charter schools are raising the bar about what’s possible—and what should be expected--in public education,” said Nelson Smith, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “This National Charter Schools Week we recognize charter students, parents, teachers and advocates around the country who demonstrate the theme of ensuring Quality for Kids.”

Three Key Factors for High-Performing Charter Schools
According to the Alliance, there are three key factors that lead to high-performing charter schools in these five cities, including:
• Effective authorizers—entities that approve the charter for the school--provide sound oversight and accountability and do not hesitate closing charter schools that have failed to live up to standards
• An engaged community that includes universities, local businesses, public officials neighborhood groups and strong charter school organizations, helps build leadership capacity and partnerships aimed at student achievement
• A strong charter law that is focused on quality, not just quantity; a strong law provides multiple authorizers, significant autonomy and equitable funding for facilities and pupils.

“We realize our work is far from over,” explained Smith. “Even when we see impressive overall performance, we know that the average often includes some sub-par schools. We must continue to work even harder to uphold the charter model of excellence and accountability to improve them or weed them out. It must be about quality for our kids.”
The brief outlines the Alliance’s policy recommendations to bring the charter school movement to scale:
1. Expand the supply of high-quality school leaders.
2. Cultivate political leaders who can lead the charge toward taking charter success to scale.
3. Work with state policymakers to create a policy environment will support charter success at scale, especially regarding caps, authorizing, funding and facilities.
4. Encourage non-district authorizers to take charter success to scale in a state’s lowest-performing urban districts.
5. Recruit local organizations in cities to play important roles in scaling up the charter movement.
6. Discern which charters are working for which students.