Families for Excellent Schools’ Analysis of Spring 2017 Test Results Shows Charter Schools Continue to Set Pace for City in Reading & Math

Families for Excellent Schools’ Analysis of Spring 2017 Test Results Shows Charter Schools Continue to Set Pace for City in Reading & Math

New York, NY – Families for Excellent Schools today released an analysis of the Spring 2017 Grades 3-8 ELA and Math test results, showing that public charter schools continue to be the best education option for underserved New York City children.

Jeremiah Kittredge, CEO of Families for Excellent Schools, said:

“Once again, New York City’s public charter schools are driving the gains made by the city’s highest-need students. It’s long past time for the teachers union and their elected allies to stop stifling the growth of these excellent public schools by disparaging their results and denying them access to public space.”

NYC charters once again set the pace for the rest of the city in both reading and math.

NYC’s charter sector enrolled almost 50,000 test takers in grades 3-8 this year — more than any of NYC’s 32 geographic school districts.  Charters now account for 12 of the 25 best schools for ELA-Math proficiency in NYC (up from 11 in 2016) and 21 of the 50 best schools (up from 19 in 2016).

• 52 percent of public charter school students were proficient in math, compared with 38 percent citywide.
• 48 percent of public charter school students were proficient in reading, compared with 41 percent citywide.
• NYC charter school students improved 57 percent more than the rest of the city in math, and charter school students are now 37 percent likelier than their peers in district schools to score at grade level in math.
• NYC charter school students improved 79 percent more than the rest of the city in ELA, and charter school students are now 19 percent likelier than their peers in district schools to score at grade level in math.

The city’s high performing charter sector has surged further and further ahead of the rest of the city in reading and math proficiency since 2013.

• Charter school math proficiency was six points higher than the city’s average in 2013 — this gap rose to 14 points in 2017.
• Charter school ELA proficiency trailed the city average by one point in 2013 — but as of 2017, charter school proficiency now leads the city average by eight points.

Meanwhile, data shows that Mayor de Blasio’s education agenda continues to fail the city’s highest-need students. 

• The achievement gap between Black and Hispanic students and their white peers grew bigger in math this year – growing from 35.0 points in 2016 to 35.3 points in 2017.
• Renewal School students continued to fall further behind. Just 9 percent of Renewal School students were proficient in math, and 16 percent in reading. The math proficiency gap between Renewals and the city average has grown from 25 points in 2013 to 28 points in 2017. The ELA proficiency gap between Renewals and the city average has grown from 20 points in 2013 to 25 points in 2017