By MIKE CHALUPA and KONA-FACIA FREEMAN-NEPAYBALTIMORE SUN |AUG 12, 2019 | 11:21 AM
CREDO, the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes, a non-partisan research center out of Stanford University, recently released its report on the educational impact of public charter schools in Maryland. It was the first such report on public charter schools in our state. This study, with data supplied from the Maryland State Department of Education, shows the impact of public charter schools across Maryland and Baltimore City. The results and impact are profound.
Analyzing four years of data from 2013 through 2017 and using the baseline of 180 days as one year of learning, CREDO found that Maryland public charter school students, on average, outperformed their peers in non-charter public schools. According to the study, public charter school students gained an additional 30 days of reading and 35 days of math achievement per year. In the last school year of the study, 2016-2017, students in our public charter schools gained an additional 47 days of reading and an astronomical 59 days of math achievement. These additional days of achievement are not due to more physical time in school but done in the same 180 days required of all public school students.