At a time when racial reckoning and correcting inequity are paramount concerns, education policy is understood to be both a root cause and a potential solution. Yet, the current election-year political discourse lacks the vital connection of chartering public schools as a proven pathway to success for students of color from impoverished backgrounds.
This is understood by black and Latino Democrat voters, who have a favorable view of public charter schools 58% and 52%, respectively, according to a Benenson Strategy poll.
Public charter schools provide a taxpayer-funded free education like traditional public schools and are open to all students, regardless of academic ability. Uniquely, charters are free to develop their own school culture and curricula and operate independently from traditional public school systems.
Studies show that urban public charter schools have been particularly effective in shrinking entrenched achievement gaps among the overwhelmingly black, brown and Immigrant populations they serve. Research out of Stanford University analyzed charter school performance in forty-one urban locations and found that charter students added the annual equivalent of roughly 40 days of additional learning in math and 28 extra days of learning in English language arts.
Significantly, student gains were concentrated among economically-disadvantaged black and Latino students. Black students in poverty gained 59 additional days in math and 44 days in ELA each year. Similarly-disadvantaged Latino students gained 48 extra days in math and 25 days in reading. Students with English-language learner status added 72 days of learning in math and 79 in ELA.
Nationally, the student achievement gap between black and Latino students and white peers amounts to about two grade levels, meaning that the average urban public charter school is making significant progress in closing the gap.
These improvements are confirmed by a Harvard University study that found eighth-graders attending charter schools show learning gains that place charter students three months ahead of their district school counterparts. Black students were an additional six months ahead.
Data from an American Economic Association study of the Promise Academy charter schools in New York City’s Harlem Children’s Zone found the effects of attendance in middle school were “enough to close the Black-White achievement gap in mathematics,” while its impact in elementary school was “large enough to close the racial achievement gap.” The same students who experienced large test-score gains relative to city-run school students were “14.1 percentage points more likely to enroll in college.”
In the District of Columbia, where nearly half of all public school students attend charters, significant gains also have been made among the most disadvantaged students. In the city’s two most underserved wards, public charter school students are twice as likely to meet or exceed state standards for college and career preparedness as traditional school system counterparts.
Citywide, black charter students post an average on-time high-school graduation rate that is 12 percentage points higher than in the city-run school system. Latino charter students’ rate is 17 points higher, and English language learner charter students’ rate is 23 points higher, according to city data.
Among vulnerable ‘at-risk’ students, defined in the District as homeless, in foster care, in receipt of government income or nutritional assistance or enrolled at a grade level below that designed for their age, charter students’ graduation rate is 18 points higher than those in city-run schools.
The Obama administration funded federal initiatives such as Race to the Top and grant funds through the Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Program. This commitment underscored President Barack Obama’s conviction that charters “give educators the freedom to cultivate new teaching models and develop creative methods to meet students’ needs.”
These federal initiatives are directed to students from low-income families, special student populations, and early learning. The funds are smaller than the 6% share of charter students enrolled nationally receive in terms of Department of Education resources. Nonetheless, this support enables urban charters to expand and serve more of the black, Latino, and immigrant children disproportionately enrolled in them. This, despite average per-student local charter funding running about 25% lower than that for traditional public school systems, as a National Bureau of Economic Research study found.
The outpouring of public support for getting at the root causes of race and class discrimination requires support for education reform that eliminates social and educational injustice.
Despite charters’ crucial gains, there is growing pressure from charter opponents to eliminate federal funds for charters. That is hard to justify, as public charter schools’ role in erasing deep-rooted opportunity and achievement gaps is clearer than ever.
Ramona Edelin is senior advisor at the D.C. Charter School Alliance.
