Thousands More California Students Being Educated in High-Performing Charter Schools

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) released its fourth annual Portrait of the Movement, a report that tells the story of what has happened in California's charter school movement over the past five years, why it has happened, and what can be done to ensure continued growth and momentum. Trends highlighted throughout Portrait of the Movement, Five Year Retrospective: A Charter Sector Growing in Numbers and Strength indicate that tens of thousands of students are being educated in better performing charter schools than just five years ago.

When the first Portrait of the Movement was released in February 2011, CCSA presented "the Shape of the U," a graph depicting a distribution of academic performance for charter schools. The image showed that in the 2007-08 school year, controlling for demographics of students served, approximately 21% of California charter schools were performing in the bottom tenth of all public schools in the state, with another 21% in the top tenth, and strikingly few "in the middle." This publication was intended to provoke a greater sense of urgency among many in the charter school movement.

"Today, just five years since we first presented 'the Shape of the U' concept, we see that California has reduced by approximately one third the percentage of charter schools performing in the bottom tenth, and has held nearly constant the large percentage of charters in the top tenth," said Jed Wallace, president and CEO, CCSA. "Findings from the report appear likely to continue and perhaps even accelerate in the years to come."

It is important to recognize that this progress was made against the backdrop of unprecedented charter school growth in California that was unmatched across the nation. As of 2013-14, California has the highest number of charter schools of any state in the country with 1,130 schools serving over 514,000 students. CCSA anticipates continued growth in 2014-15, as momentum builds for what has already been a robust growth picture for charter schools in California.

"Our research demonstrates that even during a time of unprecedented growth and severe funding crisis, academic strengthening can occur. If we can do it here in California across the largest charter public school sector in the nation, then it can happen anywhere." said Diane Tavenner, Founder and CEO of Summit Public Schools (SPS) and CCSA Board Chair.

Whether looking at the distribution from a school perspective or a student perspective, the general story is the same: the California charter sector has shown signs of improvement over the past five years. That performance has been driven by quality growth, strengthening of results across many segments of the movement, and the closure of underperforming schools. One of the brightest spots is the unprecedented success that charter schools are having with low-income students and other historically underserved student groups. 

• Students at charter schools serving low-income populations are far more likely than their traditional public school counterparts to be educated in a school that is among the top five or ten percent of all public schools statewide.
• More than half of the students (52 percent) attending charters serving a majority high poverty population attend charter schools that are in the top quartile of all public schools statewide, compared to only 26 percent of similar students attending traditional public schools.
• To put this into perspective, these 78,000 charter school students – enrolled in top quartile charters – would make up the fourth largest school district in California and the 42nd largest school district in the nation.
• More than a quarter of all English learners, African American, and Latino charter students attend charter schools that are among the most outperforming public schools in California.
• Students at charter schools serving a majority of historically disadvantaged students are likely to be among the most outperforming schools in the state – three times more likely to be in the top tenth percentile and 5-6 times more likely to be in the 5^th percentile.

Evidence argues that – based on, charter school enrollment growth, waiting list numbers, and polling data – the public has never been more supportive of charter schools than they are right now. CCSA remains committed to telling the story of how gains are being made in communities served by charter schools, transparently and with accountability.

For more information, visit: www.calcharters.org/portraitofthemovement.

About the California Charter Schools Association 
The California Charter Schools Association is the membership and professional organization serving 1,130 charter public schools and more than 514,000 students in the state of California as of the 2013-14 school year. For more information, please visit www.calcharters.org.

CONTACT:
Emily Galbreth
412-559-8571
[email protected]

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SOURCE California Charter Schools Association