Stanford Study Says Charter School Children Outperform

By Mary Camille Izlar - Jun 25, 2013 12:24 PM CT

Charter school students are making larger gains in reading than their peers in traditional classrooms while performing on par in math, according to a study of 1.5 million U.S. children.

The average student at a charter -- a privately run public school -- learned eight more days of reading a year than a pupil in a regular school, according to the Stanford University study. In both subjects, poor students, black children and those who speak English as a second language fared better in charters.

“The charter sector does seem to be posting better results, especially with disadvantaged students,” said Margaret Raymond, director of Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes, which conducted the study. “The fact that they are moving the needle with this many students since 2009 is a pretty impressive finding.”The study, one of the largest ever of charter school performance, buoyed advocates of the school-choice movement, which views charters as an alternative to the shortcomings of public education. Results from the study of 25 states and the District of Columbia represent a turnabout from a 2009 report that had shown charter schools children faring worse.

The earlier report, which included 16 states, found that students at charters schools posted seven fewer days of learning in reading and 22 fewer in math a year relative to regular school peers.

SABIS International Charter School graduates 96

By Lori Stabile, The Republican 

on June 08, 2013 at 6:43 PM, updated June 08, 2013 at 6:49 PM

SPRINGFIELD – Jordin Whyland told her fellow graduates at Sabis International Charter School to close their eyes and think back to their first day at school.

“Open your eyes,” she told her classmates. “You made it. Be proud.”

Sabis' 13th commencement exercises for the Class of 2013 was held Saturday afternoon at Symphony Hall. There were 96 graduates, and 100 percent of them will go to college, an accomplishment noted by Whyland.

She quoted Thomas Edison, saying there “is no substitute for hard work” and said 50 students will not have to pay tuition at a Massachusetts college or university because they are John and Abigail Adams scholars, a designation they earned for their stellar MCAS performance. 

Washington Post ranks SABIS International School of Minnesota's academics among the nation's most challenging

The Eden Prairie high school ranked high on a list of America’s most challenging high schools.

BY: SARAH HARPER

Emma Marais, a senior at the International School of Minnesota, took four Advanced Placements classes as a junior and will have completed four more by the time she graduates this year. That may sound like a hearty load, but Marais isn’t an outlier at her school by any means—in 2012, 84 percent of ISM students in grades 8 through 12 took three or more AP classes, and the school offers a total of 19.

It’s no surprise that the school ranked high on the Washington Post’s recent list of America’s most challenging private high schools, placing seventh in the nation and first in Minnesota. The Post tabulated the list by dividing the number of college-level tests given in 2012 by the number of graduates.

SABIS® private school in Minnesota ranks 7th "Most Challenging School" in the country

The International School of Minnesota (ISM), SABIS®’s only private school in the U.S., recently ranked 7th on The Washington Post listing of “America’s Most Challenging (Private) High Schools.”

The private school list, which was published on April 23, 2013, includes 52 schools from across the U.S.  Schools making the list are ranked based on their “Challenge Index,” which is determined based on the total number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and/or Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) tests given at a school each year divided by the number of seniors who graduated in May or June.  ISM is the only private school in Minnesota to make the list. 

Lift cap on urban charters in Massachusetts

April 25, 2013

By Nina Rees and Gerard Robinson

As former federal and state government education officials, we continue to be impressed by the performance of Massachusetts charter public schools. But we can’t help but wonder how a state that has opened some of the country’s highest-performing charters has failed to lift the cap on the number of urban schools that can open. Taking this simple step would create extraordinary new opportunities for families to benefit from the charter school experience.

A new Stanford University study confirms that charter schools are a smashing success in Massachusetts. The study, from Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes, finds that Boston charter schools are doing more to close achievement gaps than any other group of public schools in the country.

The typical Boston charter student gains the equivalent of more than 12 months of additional learning annually in reading and 13 months of greater progress in math. Statewide, charter school students gain the equivalent of one-and-a-half more months of learning per year in reading and two-and-a- half more months in math.