OOPS, NEVERMIND:

Massachusetts Charter Schools: Achievement Comparison Study: An Analysis of 2001-2005 MCAS Performance Executive Summary (Prepared by the Massachusetts Department of Education - August 2006)

In the fall of 2005, the Massachusetts Department of Education contracted with the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment (Center for Assessment) to conduct a comparative analysis of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) performance of Massachusetts charter schools and their counterpart sending districts. The Center for Assessment is an independent, non-profit organization with extensive experience in conducting statistical analyses of student performance data. The Center has previously conducted studies for over 25 states, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the US Department of Education, and other organizations.

The Massachusetts study consisted of two phases. The first phase consisted of direct comparisons of 2001 to 2005 MCAS results in English Language Arts and Mathematics between individual charter schools and their comparison sending districts (CSD). All fifty-six charter schools operating in Massachusetts in the 2004-2005 school year, regardless of each school's years of operation, were considered for the study. Of these, four were excluded-three because their enrollment was dispersed across large geographic regions without a statistically significant number of students attending from a CSD, and one because it had no students in tested grades. Of the fifty-two remaining schools, six were assigned multiple CSDs because they drew a significant portion of their students from more than one school district.

Major findings of the first phase of the study include:

* When there is a statistically significant difference in MCAS performance, it is much more likely to favor the charter school than the CSD.

* In both English Language Arts and Mathematics, at least 30 percent of the charter schools performed statistically significantly higher than their CSD in each year with the exception of 2001. In 2001, 19% of the charter schools performed statistically significantly higher than their CSD in English Language Arts and 26% in Mathematics.

* The percentage of charter schools performing higher than their CSD each year has remained fairly constant in English Language Arts and Mathematics while the number of charter schools and the number of students tested in charter schools has increased.

* The percentage of charter schools performing lower than their CSD has declined to approximately 10 percent in Mathematics and dropped below 10 percent in English Language Arts.

Similar patterns existed for all demographic subgroups, with the likelihood of the significant difference favoring the charter school being most prevalent for the African American, Hispanic, and Low Income subgroups.

Once you correct for who attends what school the gap re-opens.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 1, 2006 12:09 AM