Fact Check Fridays: Charter School MCAS Performance

From Great Schools Massachusetts:

The facts paint a very clear picture: students in Massachusetts’ public charter schools are thriving academically. Whether you look at overall performance, the achievement gap, or student growth, charter schools have a clear track record of preparing the highest need children for academic success.

Academic Studies Find that Massachusetts Has the Highest Performing Charter Schools in the Country:

• In 2013 and again in 2015, Stanford University’s prestigious Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) found that Massachusetts charter students gain “more learning in a year than his or her district school peer.”

• According to a separate analysis in the same study, charter school students in Boston are learning at double the rate of Boston district school students, making two years worth of academic progress in English and math for every year they’re enrolled in a charter school.

2015 MCAS Performance:

Charters routinely outperform their local districts on the MCAS exams and continually post impressive scores in Math, English Language Arts, and Science. In 2014, a higher percentage of students in charter schools scored proficient or advanced in every subject and at every grade level in compared to their traditional public school peers.

Math and ELA MCAS scores are highly predictive measures of college readiness for Massachusetts’ students. Scoring at Proficient or Advanced MCAS performance levels reduces the likelihood of costly, non-credit bearing remedial coursework at the college level.

On average, charter schools in Boston outperformed their district counterparts on all 2015 MCAS exams. Highlights from some local public charter schools include:

MCAS ELA Performance

• 100% of students scored proficient or advanced at both Boston-based City on a Hill Charter Schools (Dudley Square & Circuit Street) and Sturgis Charter Public School (Hyannis, MA)

o 99% of students scored Proficient or Advanced on the ELA exam at Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School (Holyoke, MA)

• 88% of economically disadvantaged students scored advanced or proficient at Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter (Hadley, MA)

MCAS Math Performance

• 96% of students scored proficient or advanced at Sturgis Charter Public School (Holyoke, MA) and City on a Hill Charter Public School- Circuit Street (Boston, MA)

• 83% of Hispanic students scored proficient or advanced at Community Day Charter Public School-Gateway (Lawrence, MA)

MCAS Science Performance

• 89% of students at Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter scored proficient or advanced (Marlborough, MA)

• 74% of high needs students at Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School scored proficient or above

• 84% of Brooke Charter School- East Boston students scored advanced or proficient on the Science exam

Great Schools Massachusetts is a statewide coalition of parents, community groups, public charter schools, education advocates and business leaders who are committed to providing families with equal access to public charter schools. More than 34,000 children in Massachusetts remain stuck on public charter school waiting lists due to arbitrary enrollment caps. New charters are frozen in many urban districts where traditional public schools are underperforming and parents have shown a clear demand for public charter schools. Great Schools Massachusetts is committed to providing families with equal access to public charter schools.