Four common myths about charter schools

The Chicago Teacher

The Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) is a vigorous opponent of charter schools. Karen Lewis, CTU President, made this perfectly clear at the news conference announcing the strike that held the city hostage for over a week in September.

“Real school will not be open Monday.”

Our recently released report on the success of charter schools, A model of success: Chicago’s charter schools hold the top nine spots for 2012 ACT scores, makes it clear why Ms. Lewis and her friends at the CTU work day-in and day-out to limit the number of charters operating in Chicago.

Quite simply, charter schools are doing better a job at raising student achievement than traditional public schools.

Here is the truth behind 4 charter school myths CTU members and other charter school skeptics commonly use to criticize studies like ours.

Myth #1: Charter schools can decide which children attend their schools. 

Fact: A charter school is legally required to accept anyone that applies to the school and gains entrance through a lottery. If the charter school breaks this law, its charter will be revoked.

Myth #2: Charter school students are demographically different from students at traditional public schools.

Fact: According to the Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS), charter school students primarily come from low-income backgrounds (91 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch), represent mostly racial minorities (60 percent African-American and 35 percent Hispanic) and must overcome a range of challenges (9 percent are English Language Learners and 12 percent have special needs).

According to the CPS Office of Strategy, Research and Accountability, CPS students also primarily come from low-income backgrounds (85.9 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch), represent mostly racial minorities (41.6 percent are African-American and 44.1 percent are Hispanic) and must overcome a range of challenges (15.8 percent are English Language Learns and 12.2 percent have special needs).

Myth #3: Charter schools are selective because the parents of charter school students are more likely to be involved in their child’s educational life than the parents of a traditional public school student. This is why they score better on standardized tests.

Fact: Multiple studies have been conducted comparing students who won entrance to a charter school via a lottery versus students who entered the lottery but lost. Those students that entered a charter school did better. This study dispels the myth that parental involvement is the main driver of success at charter schools.

Another study, which looked at the test scores of siblings who attended different schools, found that siblings enrolled in a charter school did much better than their brothers and sisters who didn’t.

Myth #4: Charter schools expel problem students at a higher rate than traditional public schools. This is why they score better on standardized tests.

Fact: An analysis completed by the Illinois Policy Institute in 2010 showed that the percentage of students who transfer out of charter schools is roughly half that of the neighborhood public schools charter students would likely otherwise attend.

Another study conducted by CPS found that charter schools are no more likely to “push out” low-performing students than traditional public schools.