Abstract: This document updates a study that was originally published in March 2005. The study finds that the quality of available research varies widely and the results, though inconclusive, are encouraging. Of the 44 studies reviewed, 18 look only at a snapshot of performance at one or more points in time. Ten show charter schools generally underperforming traditional public schools. The other eight show comparable, mixed, or positive results for charter schools. The other 26 studies look at change in performance over time. Of these, twelve find that overall gains in charter schools were larger than other public schools; four find higher charter gains in certain categories of schools; and, six find comparable gains in charter and traditional public schools. The researcher calls for better research about why some charter schools perform so much better than other charter and non-charter schools and says we need much more attention focused on evaluating chartering as a policy.
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