Do public charter schools underperform compared to traditional public schools?
[2016 Charter Myth Document]
Overall, 66.7% of public charter school students were deemed proficient (Level 3, 4 or 5) according to their end-of-grade assessments compared to 56% of their district-run counterparts. Diving deeper, public charter school students pass 19% more of their tests than public traditional school students. With the criteria for Career/College Level (EOG scores of 4 or 5), public charter students pass 22% more of their tests than traditional public school students.
Additionally, North Carolina’s public charter schools outperform traditional public schools in the areas of:
- Student graduation rates
- AMO targets (subgroups)
- Academic proficiency
- ACT percentages
- 11% of public charter schools received an A on the report card (compared to 5% of traditional schools)
- 29% of public charter schools received a B on their report card (compared to 23% of traditional schools)
(graduation rates) Subgroup |
Denominator | Percent |
All Students | 120079 | 86.3 |
Male | 61374 | 83.2 |
Female | 58705 | 89.6 |
American Indian | 1641 | 84.4 |
Asian | 3404 | 93.4 |
Black | 31747 | 83.2 |
Hispanic | 17504 | 79.9 |
Two or More Races | 4356 | 84.1 |
White | 61271 | 89.6 |
Economically Disadvantaged | 43880 | 80.3 |
English Learner | 6835 | 68.4 |
Students With Disabilities | 14818 | 69.1 |
Academically Gifted | 19739 | >95 |
https://nccppr.org/charter-schools-in-north-carolina-an-overview/
2017-18 Figures:
Overall, 57% of public charter schools were above 60% Grade Level Proficient (Level 3, 4 or 5), compared to 44% of their district-run counterparts. 35% of public charter schools were deemed Career/College Level compared to 22% of traditional public schools, according to the criteria for Career/College Level (60% of students have EOG scores of 4 or 5)
- 8.7% of public charter schools received an A on the report card (compared to 6.9% of traditional schools)
- 31.8% of public charter schools received a B on their report card (compared to 26.8% of traditional schools)
- The number and percentage of charter schools earning Ds and Fs decreased for the fifth consecutive year
- The number of charter schools exceeding growth increased from 36 in 2016-17 to 46 in 2017-18, a 27.2% increase (compared to 26.7% of traditional schools)