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Minneapolis Public Schools Scoring Better than Charters
Students in regular Minneapolis public schools are faring better academically than students in charter schools sponsored by the School District, according to a report released by the district at Tuesday's school board meeting.
For the first time, the district's research department included in its annual student achievement report an analysis of test-score data comparing charter schools and traditional public schools. The report bases its conclusions on a study of 440 students in nine charter schools, compared with 22,000 students in more than 70 elementary and K-8 schools.
Joe Nathan, director of the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, said the study should be taken with a grain of salt. "I would judge this the same way I would judge what one car company says about the other car company's product," he said.
Researchers used scores from the district's Northwest Achievement Level Tests, standardized tests that measure reading and math skills. The scores of students in grades 2 to 7 were measured from April 2002 to March 2003.
The report found that overall, 54 percent of Minneapolis' traditional public school students made at least a year's growth in reading compared with the national norm. In charter schools, 50 percent of students made similar progress.
In math, 53 percent of traditional public school students registered at least a year's growth, while 49 percent of the charter school students recorded similar gains. However, charter school students outperformed regular school students in both reading and math gains in grades 5 through 6.
David Heistad, the district's director of testing, evaluation and student information, said that the difference between the two types of schools is noteworthy but that he had expected to see a much bigger achievement gap between the charter schools and traditional schools.
Recently, Minneapolis School District leaders have focused their attention on charter schools and on other schools that are attracting more students. Last week, the district released a study of enrollment trends for the past five years, which showed that Minneapolis public schools lost 5,500 students in large part because of increased competition from charter schools, and from suburban schools via open enrollment programs.
Charter schools, a key part of the school choice movement, are public schools that are often run by parents and teachers. As with traditional public schools systems, they receive state funding on a per-pupil basis. Minneapolis district leaders say the loss of students to nontraditional public schools means a loss of revenue, and it adds to a growing realization that some people are voting with their feet.
Tony Scallon, head of Minnesota Transitions Charter School, the largest charter school district in Minneapolis, says that Minneapolis public school leaders' view of charter schools as competition is a departure from their previous stance. "Once upon time they said we are the school board for public school children, including charter schools. The question is why are they backing off of that being a school board for all public school students? I'm really kind of taken aback."
Nathan said increased attention to student achievement at various schools is a good thing, both for the charter schools and for the district. "The fact that the district is releasing this report is a reflection of the value of having some options," he said.
But he cautioned that the results should be weighed against their source. "If the charter movement came out with a study, and said here's how we compare ourselves, I'd say this is one source of information people ought to look at, but it shouldn't be the final word," said Nathan, a charter school advocate whose center also has worked with traditional public schools on student achievement issues.
But the most significant finding in the report, he said, is that both the regular public schools and district-sponsored charter schools have a long way to go when it comes to student achievement. "In only one grade level for charters and in only one grade for district schools, 60 percent or more are making a year's worth of progress. Ideally we'd want 90 percent making a year's worth of progress," he said.
In general, there is little hard data to show that charter schools are doing better with their students than the traditional public schools, according to a Star Tribune analysis of Minnesota test scores earlier this year. Charter school advocates stress that test scores are not the way to judge their success. They point to high parent satisfaction and other measures such as the fact that several charter schools have waiting lists.
Among the findings from the Star Tribune analysis, published last June:
Seven of 23 charter schools reporting results in 2003 performed better than the state's passing rate on the math basic-skills test; four of 24 charter schools posted better results on the state's reading test; seven of the 35 charter schools beat the passing rate on the writing test.
There are 88 charter schools operating in Minnesota, including 18 in Minneapolis, according to the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools.
— Allie Shah
Minneapolis public schools edge out charter schools, report finds
Star Tribune
2003-11-12
http://www2.startribune.com/stories/462/4207201.html
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