New Issue Brief: Charter Schools Benefit Disadvantaged Students

NEW YORK, NY – Among Democrats, 58% of black voters and 52% of Hispanic voters support charter schools—but their presidential candidates fail to reflect this view. Now that Cory Booker has dropped out of the race, no Democratic presidential candidate supports charter schools, with the possible exception of Michael Bloomberg. According to the latest issue brief in the Manhattan Institute’s Issues 2020 series, this newfound antipathy flies in the face of the evidence of charter schools’ success in improving educational outcomes for lower-income and minority students.

According to senior fellow Max Eden, dozens of studies demonstrate why policies to expand the charter sector have historically been a rare spot of bipartisan agreement. Public charter schools tend to benefit disadvantaged students who attend them—as well as their neighbors who don’t. Studies show substantial gains in academic achievement, especially for lower-income and minority students, amounting to weeks, or even months, of additional classroom learning each year. As compared with similar peers in traditional public schools, charter students also have better outcomes on a variety of important social indicators, from higher college attendance and persistence to lower rates of teen pregnancy and incarceration.

Key findings include:

• A national study of 41 urban areas estimated that charter schools provide black students in poverty with the equivalent of an additional 59 days of learning in math and 44 days of learning in reading per year.
• Studies in three states have demonstrated that attending a charter high school boosts college entry and persistence.
• Studies in two districts have shown that attending charter schools decreases criminal activity among students who attend them.
• A cost-benefit analysis across eight major urban districts found that charter schools are 36% more cost-effective in boosting reading scores and 40% more cost-effective in math than traditional public schools.

Click here to read the full report.

ABOUT ISSUES 2020

The Issues 2020 series applies the Manhattan Institute’s breadth and depth of expertise on major issues of national public policy to the key arguments and proposals of the 2020 presidential campaigns. MI scholars identify where the central claims driving key debates reflect fundamental misunderstandings about what is happening in America. With succinct explanations of what the data show, they provide a much-needed corrective and a solid foundation for political debates about the nation’s future. Click here to read more.