http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20080319_New_Phila__schools_boss_hired_at_325G.html
A report released this month by Philadelphia's Accountability Review Council (ARC) found that "charter schools are not performing substantially better nor substantially worse than district schools in raising student achievement." ARC was created as part of the state's takeover of city schools in 2001 and serves to evaluate the district's reform efforts and report annually on its findings. The report found that, from 2002 to 2007, charter schools had the largest percentage increase in schools making adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law, when compared with district-managed schools and district schools operated by educational-management organizations. But charter schools, the report noted, have few subgroups of students, such as those with special education needs and those who are learning English as a second language. "It's somewhat inconclusive. We could see that more study will have to be conducted. For example, the charter high schools are doing better than the elementary charter schools. . . . We've concluded that we're going to have to spend a lot more time drilling down looking at individual schools and the success that they are having rather than just this monolith called charter schools," said James E. Lyons, Sr., ARC chairman and secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
Source: Philadelphia Daily News
Date: 03/19/2008
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