Latest Official Evaluation of Texas Charter Campuses Shows Persistent Performance Lag

 

(This report was posted by the Texas AFT) 

 

Since 1995 the Texas experiment with direct state creation of charter schools operating independently from local school districts has grown from 20 campuses to 332.  Eighteen of them operate as "university charter schools" with some academic and financial oversight from a particular public senior college or university.  But the vast majority--314--are new schools created by nonprofit organizations, which can contract out to for-profit vendors to manage the schools and provide instruction.  According to the latest official annual report on Texas charter schools, Texas now has one of the nation's largest charter-school programs, ranking fourth in the nation in the fall of 2007 in terms of number of students enrolled, and ranking fifth in terms of the number of schools in operation.

 

Charter schools created directly by the State Board of Education--so-called "open-enrollment charter schools"--continue to produce "lower TAKS passing rates in all tested areas compared to traditional school districts statewide," according to the latest official evaluation published this month by the Texas Center for Educational Research.  "Compared to traditional public schools statewide, open-enrollment charter school TAKS passing rates for 2007 are 5% lower in writing, 7% lower in reading/ELA, 12% lower in social studies, 14% lower in mathematics, 21% lower in science, and 14% lower in all tests taken."  The study also found that, "compared to traditional public high schools, open-enrollment charter schools have lower graduation rates, lower percentages of students who complete the Recommended High School Program, and lower advanced-course completion rates."

 

Some 21 percent of the 187 open-enrollment charter campuses subject to the standard accountability system were rated "academically unacceptable" in 2006-2007, versus 3 percent of traditional public schools.  However, please note:  Some 145 open-enrollment charter schools--44 percent of the total–were not subject to standard accountability measures, opting instead for the less rigorous "alternative education accountability" standards.  In contrast, only 3 percent of traditional public schools were rated under these easier alternative standards.

 

The TCER study attempts to compare student achievement of charter schools and a subset of "similar traditional schools," with matching socioeconomic characteristics and student attendance rates.  Even with this adjustment, however, "TAKS passing rate comparisons for students at standard open-enrollment charter schools and traditional campuses favor standard traditional campuses in all tested areas."

 

Only when the comparison is further restricted to demographically comparable charter campuses and traditional campuses that are rated under the alternative accountability standards does the picture become more mixed, according to the TCER study.  In this comparison, alternatively rated open-enrollment charter schools come out 3 percent higher in math, 2 percent in all tests taken, and 1 percent in reading/English language arts; alternatively rated traditional campuses scored 7 percent higher in writing, 1 percent higher in math.  (Within this category of alternatively rated, socioeconomically comparable charter and traditional campuses, there was no difference in science performance.)       

 

Charter-school boosters assert that their campuses suffer a significant disadvantage in funding by comparison with traditional public schools.  Charter schools do suffer such a disadvantage in one area--facilities funding--because unlike school districts they cannot levy property taxes.  However, facilities funding aside, the TCER study shows that open-enrollment charter schools have more combined federal, state and local funds available per pupil each year than traditional school districts ($8,702 versus $8,567).

 

One other persistent trend in this 11th-year of official state evaluations of the charter-school experiment is worth noting.  Open-enrollment charter schools continue to pay teachers "substantially less" than traditional public schools, have less experienced teachers, and suffer higher teacher turnover rates, according to the TCER report.