First-Ever NAEP Charter School Results Repeatedly Delayed

AFT Unearths Data: Charter School Scores Mostly Trail Achievement in Regular Public Schools Casts Doubt on Wisdom of Conversion to Charter School As a Sanction of No Child Left Behind

Washington, D.C.—The 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in math and reading, which was publicly released in November 2003, included the first-ever nationally representative sample of charter schools, but the federal government has repeatedly delayed public reporting of the NAEP charter school achievement results. These are among the findings of a report released today by the American Federation of Teachers, which was able to obtain and examine the NAEP charter school data (see link at bottom for full report).

The 2003 NAEP charter school achievement data originally were scheduled for release in January 2004. After numerous delays, NAEP is scheduled to officially release the data in December 2004. In the meantime, the NAEP results (often called the "gold standard" in education data) from the charter school sample are effectively unavailable to educators, parents, and public policy makers.

Furthermore, the authorities responsible for NAEP plan to accompany the charter school achievement data with an analysis that adjusts the results. Not only is such an analysis unprecedented in NAEP’s history, but NAEP is also prohibited from officially reporting its results in this fashion.

The AFT analysis of the NAEP charter school achievement data (which is presented in the same way NAEP results are typically reported) shows that charter school students mostly underperform and sometimes score about as well as regular public school students. Researchers at the AFT were able to unearth the NAEP charter school achievement data by using the Web-based NAEP Data Tool, a difficult, if not impossible, task for a layperson. (Detailed achievement results are available at www.aft.org.)

"The government’s first obligation to the public was to release the NAEP charter school results, just like it does with other NAEP results," said Bella Rosenberg, an author of the AFT report. "Repeatedly delaying that report for the sake of packaging the results with an official explanation tarnishes NAEP’s gold-standard reputation."

The repeated delays in releasing NAEP charter school achievement data are especially disturbing because one of the sanctions for schools that persistently fail to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is restructuring as a charter school. Many schools across the country are already in this predicament.

"Being transformed into a charter school is being held out as a solution for struggling public schools," said Dr. F. Howard Nelson, lead author of the AFT report. "But these NAEP data reinforce years of independent research that show charter schools do no better and often underperform comparable, regular public schools."

When the late AFT president Albert Shanker introduced the idea of charter schools in 1988, he envisioned innovative public schools with the potential to improve education for all students. The AFT’s early support of charter schools reflected Shanker’s belief that there should be careful experimentation with the charter school model, with high standards for achievement and accountability to help realize their potential. Unfortunately, the charter school movement has taken a very different turn. The preponderance of independent research shows that most charter schools underperform regular public schools and many lack accountability.

Departures from Policy and Past Practice

NAEP, which is often called "the nation’s report card," tests a nationally representative sample of students in grades 4, 8 and 12 in a variety of academic subjects. NAEP is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is part of the U.S. Department of Education. The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) sets the overall policy direction for NAEP. NAGB board members direct NAEP policy and are appointed by the U.S. secretary of education.

NAGB approved a plan from NCES to accompany the delayed charter school data with an analysis that adjusts the results. Not only is this unprecedented in NAEP’s 35-year history, it also violates a 1989 NAGB resolution prohibiting officially reporting NAEP with "adjusted" or "predicted" results because they "would be subject to serious methodological and political challenges … " As then-NAGB member and charter school advocate Chester A. Finn said in 1994 when NAGB reaffirmed its 1989 board resolution, "while it was proper for researchers to prepare adjusted scores, it would be wrong for them to [be] part of a government report, such as NAEP; ... such scores would damage the credibility of [the] program." Nevertheless, the NCES plan calls for using hierarchical linear modeling "to try to determine whether charter school characteristics (governance, etc.) explain performance differences from other public schools."

"Analyses are always welcome, but first things first," said Rosenberg. "In light of NCLB sanctions, surely the interests of children are better served by timely and straightforward information about whether charter school performance measures up to the claims made for it."

The full AFT report is available at www.aft.org/pubs-reports/downloads/teachers/NAEPCharterSchoolReport.pdf.

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