Traditional Public Schools Outperform Charters on Average in Pennsylvania

It is an undisputed fact that local taxpayers are paying millions to operate charter schools in Pennsylvania.  One might justify the high level of spending if the educational performance of charters was above that of traditional public schools.  However, a quick review of the facts shows that traditional public schools are outperforming both bricks and mortar charters and cyber charters.

In 2011 the Center For Educational Research (CREDO) released a study on Pennsylvania Charter school performance.  Some of the results of the study were as follows:

• Students in PA charter schools made smaller gains vs. their traditional public school counterparts.
• Nearly half of charter school students had significantly lower gains than public school counterparts with a quarter having significantly higher gains.
• 100% of cyber charters performed worse than public school peers.

•  Traditional public schools: 77.1

•   Bricks and mortar charter schools: 66.4

•  Cyber charter schools: 46.8

• No cyber made AYP and 8 scored below 50

It is important to note that Pennsylvania has some charter schools that are performing at a high level and fulfilling their original mandate of providing a unique alternative to students. However, any assertion that the expensive investment in charter schools in Pennsylvania as a whole is justified by the results would be painfully false.