Twelve studies find that overall gains in charter schools are larger than other public schools; four find charter schools’ gains higher in certain significant categories of schools; six find comparable gains; and, four find that charter schools’ overall gains lagged behind traditional schools.
Source: Charter School Achievement: What We Know, July 2005 Update
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Download: 
http://www.appam.org/conferences/fall/dc2005/sessions/downloads/4931.doc
Using student achievement and survey data of both charter and district public schools from Los Angeles, the researchers examine the connection between operational features (such as non-core subject instruction, autonomy, and leadership characteristics) and student achievement. Surprisingly, greater emphasis in foreign languages is found to result in poorer math and reading test scores. Researchers suggest that the time spent on learning a foreign language may "crowd out" core subjects. After controlling for student and school characteristics, they find that while charter school principals have more control over discipline, assessment, expenses, curriculum, and staff management than district school principals, there is no strong evidence that leadership autonomy leads to higher test scores. The authors recognize that greater autonomy in charter schools may have other benefits than test score improvement for teachers, parents, and students.
Date: 2005
Source: RAND Corporation
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