Charter School Performance

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2011 Charter School Performance

Colorado Growth Model | Adequate Yearly Growth | CSAP Proficient/Advanced | Awards

Colorado Growth Model

The state average growth for Colorado public schools in 2011 was the 50th percentile. More Colorado charter middle schools achieved median growth percentiles (MGP) at or above the state median for growth in math (52.1%), reading (64.4%) and writing (64.6%), when compared to Colorado’s traditional public schools. Likewise, when looking at the performance of Colorado’s non-alternative education campus (non-AEC) charter high schools, a higher percentage meet or exceed the state median for growth in all three subject areas (62.5%, 63.6%, 72.7%, respectively), when compared to Colorado’s traditional public schools. More traditional public elementary schools are achieving median growth percentiles at or above the state median for growth when compared to Colorado charter elementary schools in every subject area.

Adequate Yearly Growth

Last year, Colorado introduced a new measure to rate schools on their effectiveness at reaching all students—the median adequate growth percentile. The median adequate growth percentile for a school represents the growth that is needed by the “typical” student in the school to reach proficiency within three years or by 10th grade, whichever comes first. For this analysis we compared the actual median growth percentile achieved by all schools in the state to the median adequate growth percentile needed to bring students to proficiency. The figure below illustrates the percentage traditional public schools and charters whose actual median growth percentiles were equal to or greater than their median adequate growth percentiles.

The percentage of schools, traditional public schools and charters, to meet or exceed adequate median growth in reading was quite impressive. In all grade levels, at least 77 percent (up from 70 percent in 2010) of schools met the adequate growth percentile for reading, with charter elementary schools achieving this just shy of 90 percent of the time.

The state as a whole appears to have struggled more to meet adequate growth percentiles in math. In both math and writing, however, a higher percentage of charter schools met their adequate growth percentiles when compared to traditional public schools—with the exception of high school level writing in which it seems there is not a significant difference in performance.

CSAP: Percent Proficient or Advanced

While not as good an indicator of school effectiveness as growth, the percent of students in a school to score proficient or better on the CSAP is an important snap shot of how students are performing academically in our state.

Note: *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001

In 2011, the overall proficiency results among charter schools closely mirrored those for traditional public schools. Charter middle schools are statistically significantly outperforming traditional public schools for percent proficient and advanced in math, t(492)=2.51, p<.05; reading, t(492)=3.73, p<.001; and writing, t(492)=4.38, p<.001. A higher percentage of Colorado charter elementary school students are reaching proficient or advanced on the CSAP in reading, t(492)=3.59, p<.001, and writing, t(492)=2.70, p<.01, when compared to Colorado traditional public schools. When looking at Colorado public high school performance, it seems that charter high schools have lower percentages of students reaching proficiency and above, however, when Alternative Education Campus’ (AECs) are removed from the analysis; there is no statistically significant difference.