Florida Report Shows Strong Performance of Public Charter School Students in Comparison to Performance of Students at State’s Traditional Public Schools

Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools (FCPCS) Salutes Continued Success of Florida’s Public Charter School Students

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., (March 26, 2019) – A Florida Department of Education (FDOE) report released Monday shows students enrolled in the state’s public charter schools are continuing to outperform students in traditional public schools in overall achievement and learning gains.   The report also found that achievement gaps continue to be lower among charter school students when gaps are studied between white students and African-American students and between white students and Hispanic students.

State law requires FDOE to prepare an annual report on achievement of Florida students in public charter schools versus students in traditional public schools.  The report covers the 2017-2018 school year and includes only students enrolled in a school for a full year.  It compares student performance on Florida assessment tests in math, science, social studies and English language arts.

The report is divided into three sections to study overall achievement, learning gains and achievement gaps between student groups.  In overall achievement, FDOE looked at 77 separate comparisons of overall rates of grade level performance, based on the percentage of students who scored level three or above on Florida assessment tests.  In 63 of the 77 comparisons, charter school students showed higher rates of grade level performance.

Comparisons are also included in the report based on the percentage of charter school students making learning gains and the percentage of traditional public school students making learning gains.  Comparisons were made based on subject, grade level and subgroup and showed in 88 of 96 comparisons, the percentage of charter school students making learning gains was higher than the percentage of traditional public school students making learning gains.

A third area of assessment in the report is a comparison of achievement gaps, specifically the gap between white students and African-American students and the gap between white students and Hispanic students in English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies.  In 19 of 22 comparisons, the achievement gap was actually lower – and better – for charter school students than for students in traditional public schools.

“The student achievement report clearly shows Florida’s public charter schools are making a meaningful difference in the education of our state’s students,” said Robert Haag, President of the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools.  “We congratulate charter school students, teachers and administrators for their continued success.”

The FDOE report is a cooperative project of the Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice and the Bureau of Evaluation and Reporting in the Division of Accountability.

The full 2017-2018 Student Achievement Report can be viewed or downloaded at: http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7778/urlt/SAR1819.pdf

About the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools

The Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools (FCPCS) is the leading charter school membership association in the state, with a membership of nearly 75 percent of all operating charter schools.  Since its inception in 1999, FCPCS has been dedicated to creating a national model of high quality, accredited public charter schools that are student-centered and performance-driven.  FCPCS provides a wide array of technical support, mentoring, training, networking, and purchasing services to its membership, as well as serving as an advocate for all Florida public charter schools.