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August 23, 2004
Charter School ResultsTo the Editor: We take issue with "Charter Schools Trail in Results, U.S. Data Reveals'' (front page, Aug. 17). The information in the teachers' union report is not a true picture of what is happening nationally. Many factors affect student achievement, including socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity and prior test scores. The current database does not account for these factors simultaneously. A more thorough analysis is needed to provide a statistically sound report, and we are working on one. In every case, there are no statistically significant differences in test scores between students in charters versus those in public schools when comparing students of the same race or ethnicity. We have been open and forthright about the availability of this data, which is easy to find on the National Assessment of Educational Progress Web site. Robert Lerner
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