U. charter-school study uncovers highs and lows

Charter school elementary students are scoring better on state tests than those in traditional schools, but the trend is reverse at the secondary level.

Those findings of an independent University of Utah study were presented to the State Charter Board Thursday. Headed up by analyst Chris Was, the study held charter schools up to traditional schools in Utah, taking samples of students from similar geographic areas in both groups.

The idea was to get a more accurate comparison by comparing students from the same area — with theoretically similar backgrounds and socio-economic status — than looking across the state, Was said.

Researchers took data from the State Office of Education of last year's Criterion Reference Test results.

In the elementary grades, charter school students performed slightly better than traditional students in mathematics, science and language arts, with significant differences in grades 3, 5 and 7.

In the higher grades, however, the pattern flip-flops and traditional students score significantly better in the three subjects than those in charter schools.

Additionally, Was said that special education and minority students score better in charter schools.

"The trend is that the special education students and minority students actually test closer to their nonspecial ed and nonminority counterparts in the charter schools than they are in the traditional school," Was said. The gaps are smaller, but Was notes it's not that cut and dried.

The sample sizes differ. There are fewer than 6,000 charter school students and more than 350,000 traditional students statewide. So the group sizes are uneven.

"We can stand by the results, but statistically we can't confirm it because of the difference in sample sizes," Was said.

Charter school leaders take the comparisons lightly but feel the study shows Utah charter schools are succeeding on both elementary and secondary levels.

In the study, traditional students outscore charter students in high school, but a real comparison on a secondary level is difficult, said John Broberg, State Charter Board director.

A good portion of the high schools target at-risk students, so it is expected that they won't score as high.

The results of the Utah study counter the National Assessment of Educational Progress 2003 pilot study on charter school students' achievement that reported in most cases charter school students are not performing as well as other public school students.

"But I don't want to get into 'hey we're better.' We are just looking at ourselves," said Broberg. "We do use regular public education as a benchmark, but it tells us that we are appropriately moving year to year on the level we should be."

Nonetheless, Broberg is not surprised that there have been conflicting reports on charter schools in the past last year given the unique nature of the comparisons.

"We have to realize," he said, "that statistics are like the scriptures: Everybody scriptures, everybody has a different interpretation."

The study will be posted on the state charter Web site later this month at www.usoe.k12.ut.us/charterschools.

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