NEPC Review: As a Matter of Fact: National Charter School Study III 2023 (Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), June 2023

In a recent report, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) examined charter school students’ year-to-year test score growth across 31 states between 2015 and 2019. When compared to students in traditional public schools, it finds charter school students experienced small, positive impacts in reading and math but with considerable variation between groups and types of schools. For instance, Black and Hispanic students in the study had more positive outcomes than other racial and ethnic identities. In addition, charter schools run by management organizations were found to show more positive results than stand-alone schools. Virtual charter schools, meanwhile, produced strongly negative outcomes. The geographic scope of the report provides policymakers with an expansive bird’s-eye view, comparing charter school students’ learning in reading and math to students in traditional public schools. However, the report should be approached with caution by policymakers given the nonexperimental design that renders it unable to fully account for the factors that drive families to choose charter schools. In addition, the report presents its findings using an unconventional metric that makes it difficult to understand the policy implications, potentially misleading policymakers. Indeed, the magnitude of the main findings fails to meet the minimum threshold experts consider to be a meaningful educational intervention.