Report finds charter school students outperformed peers in public schools

Florida Department of Education releases annual report

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Education released its annual charter school performance report on Monday.

The report found Florida charter school students consistently outperformed their peers in traditional public schools. 

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Using 2017-18 school year data, the report compared achievement, learning gains and achievement gaps across a variety of subgroups and grade levels. The report was based on more than 4.2 million test scores and makes 195 comparisons of academic success between students attending charter schools and students attending traditional public schools. 

READ: 2018 Student Achievement Report in Florida's Charter Schools

Highlights of the 48-page report include: 

  • In 63 of the 77 (82 percent) comparisons, students enrolled in charter schools demonstrated higher rates of grade level performance than their peers in traditional public school.
  • The report concluded that the achievement gap was lower for charter school students in 19 of 22 (86 percent) comparisons. The achievement gap component included English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.     
  • When comparing learning gains, the percentage of students making learning gains was higher in charter schools in 88 of the 96 (91.7 percent) comparisons. 
  • In comparisons of achievement and learning gains, African-American students in charter schools performed better than African-American students in district-managed schools in 89 percent of the comparisons. 
  • In comparisons of achievement and learning gains, Hispanic students in charter schools performed better than Hispanic students in district-managed schools in 93 percent of the comparisons.
  • In comparisons of achievement and learning gains, students eligible for free/reduced lunch in charter schools performed better than students eligible for free/reduced lunch in district-managed schools in 93 percent of the comparisons.
  • For 2017-18 school grades, 47 percent of graded charter schools earned an “A” compared to 28 percent of graded traditional schools.

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