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.vanderbilt.edu/schoolchoice/conference/papers/Hoxby-Murarka_2006-DRAFT.pdf
This paper, delivered at the National Conference on Charter School Research at Vanderbilt University in September, discusses the challenges of assessing charter school achievement. It examines the benefits and shortcomings of major charter school research methods (Comparison with Controls Based on Observable Variables; Comparison-of-Gains-with-Controls based on Observable Variables; Value-Added Analysis; Lottery-Based Analysis; and Combining Methods). Unlike some other education researchers, the authors find that value-added analysis is “entirely superficial when it comes to estimating charter school effects.” They conclude that "value-added analysis is not a useful method for generating evidence on charter school effects." The authors suggest that lottery-based analysis is superior and label it the "gold standard."
Date: 2006
Source: Harvard University, National Bureau of Economic Research
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