In The News.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
By Debra Dominguez-Lund
Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer
Students attending "older" charter schools— those that opened in 2001 or earlier— outperformed their regular school counterparts in reading, math and science, according to a study of charter school achievement in the state.
The study was prepared by Melissa Binder, an associate professor of economics at the University of New Mexico. It used school and district level data from mandatory No Child Left Behind tests.
"The results here suggest that the newer charters, and the regular school system as well, could benefit enormously from learning about the practices and experience of the older charters," Binder said in her report. Binder looked at test results for 51 charters for the school year 2005-06.
"The assumption is that older schools are different because they are more established," Binder said in a phone interview. "The older schools are clearly doing something right."
Compared with students statewide, she found, low-income students attending older charters have higher proficiency in reading in all grades but seventh, and higher proficiency in math in all grades but third.
Hispanic students in older charter schools, the study states, have higher rates of proficiency in fourth through eighth grades and rates very similar to students statewide in third, ninth and 11th grade reading and 11th grade math.
Results are less encouraging when all charter schools are considered.
The study says fourth-grade charter school students in the Hispanic and low-income subgroups did better than their counterparts statewide, and fourth- and sixth-graders in these subgroups in Albuquerque charters had higher proficiency rates.
But in most other grades, these students did worse.
Teresa Brito-Asenap, director of Albuquerque Public Schools' Center of Extended Learning for Student Advancement, said the district would be open to looking at charter school practices because it's always looking for best practices.
"And that's whether they be from traditional, alternative or charter schools," she said. "We want our schools to be the best they can be.
"However, the report is just one study," Brito-Asenap said. "Charter schools are new to the whole country, and as time goes on more research will tell us more. I encourage more research."
Brito-Asenap also said it's important to look at other variables when considering the study's conclusions, such as class and staff size.
Parents might be the most important variable, she said.
"I think the main advantage they have is that parents are selecting them," Binder said of charter schools. "You're looking at kids whose parents are highly motivated."
The study was done for the New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools. Coalition executive director Lisa S. Grover said she wasn't surprised by its findings, as "national studies show charter schools across the country outperform" conventional schools.
"Newer charter schools may not fare as well because, like any new enterprise, such as a new business, they need time to get off the ground, to implement their charter and stabilize," Grover said.
Posted June 14, 2007