Online charters serve students poorly compared to other schools
- During four school years ending in 2016-17, Pennsylvania charter school students made similar progress in reading and weaker growth in math compared to their traditional public school peers. Urban charter schools performed better than those in rural, suburban, or town settings.
- Results for charter school students overall were dragged down by the remarkably weaker growth in both reading and math among online charter students (25 percent of all charter students) relative to the average non-charter students or brick-and-mortar charter students.
- In particular, Hispanic students showed greater academic progress in reading when attending in-person classes.
- While 13 percent of charter schools included in the study exhibited high achievement and high academic growth in English language arts, fewer than 10 percent of charters met this standard in math.