LOS ANGELES – A new study from Stanford University released on March 15 showed that charter schools within Los Angeles County performed better than public schools in the areas of math and reading.

 

The study was created by the Stanford University Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), and it broke down various statistics it had assembled based on various factors such as location and the ethnicity of charter school students.

 

According to the release, CREDO was established to “improve empirical evidence about education reform and student performance at the primary and secondary levels.” Due to their reliable research and support of organizations and policy makers, CREDO has become a valuable asset that assists educators and policymakers strengthen their focus on the results from innovative programs, curricula, policies or accountability practices.

 

The 43 page report titled “Charter School Performance in Los Angeles,” was released on February 26, 2014. The report “focused on the academic progress of their enrolled and tested students.” The study aimed to document anything the charter schools “may provide their students, [or any] contributions to their students’ readiness for secondary education, high school graduation and post-secondary life.”

 

In the study, CREDO used a method called the Virtual Control Record (VCR) that records and tracks a student’s progress over time. The VCR method chose students who previously went to a traditional public school (TPS) before attending a charter school. From there, students were matched together based on their grade level, gender, race/ethnicity, free or reduced price lunch status, English language learner status, special education status and prior test score on state achievement tests to ensure that the students had a near identical start in the study.

 

Using the principle of additional days of learning, the study was able to show results that measured how students performed in math and reading, so that more than 180 days of learning, the barometer that represents the typical length of a school year, stood for a gain in days spent learning while less than 180 days of learning stood, conversely, for a loss in days spent learning.

 

The study showed that there are far fewer students enrolled in charter schools compared to public schools, 588,957 compared to a population of 82,351.  There was also less students in poverty (75 percent compared to 70 percent), more white students (8 percent compared to 14 percent), more black students (9 percent compared to 15 percent) less Hispanic students (75 percent compared to 58 percent), and less Asian students (6 percent compared to 4 percent).

 

Charter school students in Los Angeles received an additional 50 days of learning in reading and an additional 79 days of learning in math when compared to their public school counterparts.  Breaking it down into area, the study then showed that urban charter schools were able to receive 50 additional days of learning in reading and 79 additional days for math, while suburban schools received 65 additional days and 101 additional days of learning for reading and math, respectively.

 

The largest gain in additional days of learning in reading was found in elementary charter schools at 58 days, and the largest gain in additional days of learning in math was found in middle school charters at 101 days.

 

When it came to various ethnicities, the results were similar.  Black students received 14 additional days in both reading and math.  White students received 14 additional days in reading, but the same amount of days in math as public school counterparts.  Hispanic students received an additional 43 days for reading and 72 days in learning for math.  Asian students were able to get an additional 14 days of learning in reading, but no significant benefit in days for math.

 

Students in poverty were able to get 14 additional days for reading and 43 additional days for math. The results of the study showed that charter schools received more additional days for learning both subjects when compared to other public schools; numbers that represented 48 percent in reading and 44 percent in math.

 

“The overall pattern of performance in Los Angeles reflects strong authorizing coupled with focused school operations,” said Margaret Raymond, Director of CREDO at Stanford University, in a statement.  

 

“This is a formula that appears in other high performing charter communities; when flexibility is coupled with strong authorizer accountability, students reap the benefit.”