children & families
Charter Talk
A strong education system is essential to growing the next generation of leaders and decision-makers, but there is a growing voice for more choice in education, particularly in the form of
Legislators Have Their Say on Charter Schools by Matt Shafer
charter schools. Two state leaders heavily involved in charter school legislation, Massachusetts state Sen. Marc Pacheco and Utah state Rep. Jefferson Moss, spoke with CSG regarding student performance,
lessons from other states, school governance and charter research.
SEPT/OCT 2017 | CAPITOL IDEAS
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How are students performing in charter schools compared to traditional public schools? Moss: When you break out subgroups, such as students with disabilities, English learners, minority students or low-income students, charters are performing higher than district schools. Demographics obviously have a direct correlation to outcomes, but when you isolate within that subgroup there is noticeable improvement. I see charters as a choice of the best option for each student. Some do better in different environments, although that may not be reflected in the year-end testing. Pacheco: In Massachusetts, if you look at the system as a whole, traditional public schools outperform charter schools on average. As a state we lead the nation in many categories of student performance. Why should Massachusetts be interested in changing and heading to an alternative with so many unknowns?