“How Are California’s Charter Schools Performing?” is available for purchase from EdSource.
A study by EdSource, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based research group, has found that more classroom-based California charter schools met their achievement goals on state exams than regular public schools or nonclassroom-based charters.
The classroom-based charters were 33 percent more likely to meet their state achievement goals than other public schools, according to the May 25 report. The study also found that the nonclassroom-based charters—such as home school or independent-study programs— performed “significantly” worse than the other charters and “slightly” worse than regular public schools.
EdSource emphasizes that the report focuses only on assessment scores and that it does not conclude charter schools offer a better education. The group calls for more studies.
