Mixed Results Seen for Charter Networks

Success patterns echo middle-grades study

A follow-up to a major national study on the performance of charter school networks shows that they are yielding varied results when it comes to their students' progress in graduating from high school and going on to college.

The study shows that, of the six private charter-management organizations, or CMOs, for which data were available, three have significant positive impacts on students' on-time graduation rates compared with the regular public schools in their areas. One of the charter networks increased the probability that its students would graduate from high school in four years by 23 percentage points.

Two of the other charter-management groups studied had positive but not statistically significant impacts on graduation. And one network had a serious negative impact on the graduation rates of its students compared with the local public schools: It reduced the probability that students would graduate on time...