Sunday, June 30, 2013

Florida Charter Schools lag behind Public Schols

From the Tampa Tribune, by Anastasia Dawson

 Charter schools are on the rise in Florida, seen by some as a solution to chronically under performing public schools.

But Florida's growing penchant for funneling public money into charter schools hasn't universally translated into better performance, according to a national study released last week.

Florida students in traditional public schools, on average, read at a higher level than those in charter schools and do just as well in math, according to the study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University, released Tuesday.

This despite benefiting from selection bias, low numbers of ESE and ESOL students, fewer numbers on free and reduced lunch, the ability to both counsel out poor performers and bad apples and to put requirements on parents.

Why is Florida so heavily investing in charter schools again? The answer is a simple one, follow the money.