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.commonwealthfoundation.org/docs/PB20-01-CyberPrimer.pdf
Online public charter schools are growing throughout Pennsylvania. Enrollment increased by nearly 760 percent in just five years (from 1,852 in 2001-02 to 15,865 in 2006-07). In the 2005-06 school year, 43 percent of online public charter school students came from low-income families, contrasted with the state average of 34 percent. Online public charter schools operate on significantly less funding than traditional public schools (in the 2005-06 school year, the average cyber school expenditure per pupil was $8,371; the state average per pupil spending that year was $11,485). Despite their increasing popularity, online public charter schools have come under attack from district school boards and some state lawmakers. Instead of trying to target online public charter schools and reduce their funding, the authors suggest that education leaders apply the following principles and accountability measures, including: allowing increased school choice, having the money follow the child, creating performance contracts for all public schools, and enforcing sanctions when those schools fail to meet their performance contract measures.
Date: 2008
Source: Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives
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