UPDATE: We posted our in-depth analysis of charter school test scores. View it here.
The results are out from the 2011-12 state tests for Math and English Language Arts (ELA) in grades 3-8, and New York City charter school students, teachers, parents and school leaders once again have reason to feel extremely proud and hopeful. James Merriman issued the following statement:
These results reflect another strong performance for New York City charter schools and show once again why parental demand for charters continues to climb across the city. Most striking is how much the city’s charter schools are narrowing the racial and ethnic achievement with more affluent schools across the state.” (Read the full statement.)
The Charter Center is working on our annual in-depth analysis of the test scores, but here are some initial highlights:
- NYC charter school average proficiency rates rose significantly both in Math (72.0%, up from 68.4% in 2010-11) and English Language Arts (51.5%, up from 44.5%). NYC charter school students’ mean scale scores also increased by three points in each subject (689 vs. 686 in Math, 665 vs. 662 in ELA).
- Over the last two years, NYC charter school students’ ELA proficiency has increased by nine percentage points in both Math and ELA.
- According to NYC DOE, NYC charter schools also outpaced district averages in both Math and ELA proficiency among every reported subgroup: Black students, Hispanic students, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities. (Testing data about student from low-income families is not yet available.)
- The data also show that NYC charter school students, who are overwhelmingly Black and Hispanic, scored proficient in math at a rate close to that of White students statewide (72% vs. 74%). There is a wider difference in ELA (52% in NYC charter schools vs. 67% for White students statewide).
- The percentage of NYC charter school students scoring “Advanced” (Level 4) in Math increased to 26.5%, up from 21.2% in 2010-11. ELA performance continues to lag behind math achievement, including at Level 4 (1.9% vs. 1.2% in 2010-11).
Download Charter School Scores (.xls)
Use our interactive data tools below to explore individual schools’ scores. (Note that the lower chart shows trends in historical scores, not progress by identical groups of students, and many schools have served different grade configurations from year to year.)
