New York City charter students ace math exam, overcome racial gaps
A record 90.7 percent of students in New York City's charter schools aced this year's state math tests, according to the New York Post. article "Charter Students Divide and Conquer." .jpg)
This is 9 percentage points higher than the city's traditional public schools and more than 4 points higher than the statewide average.
The figures show that schools can overcome racial-achievement gap and even poverty, a common excuse used by failing urban schools.
For example, Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School in Brooklyn, a fifth-through-eighth-grade charter school, saw 100 percent of kids in every grade pass the exam.
This school is 60 percent Hispanic and 40 percent African-American, and 84 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Of course, charters have long been a favorite target of the teachers unions and their allies, who claim they siphon money from public schools while failing to provide quality educational options,” says an advocate for the
Education Action Group.
"Perhaps it's time to take another look at the performance of charter schools, and their potential to offer positive educational options, instead of searching ofr evidence of their shortcomings and opportunitie sto shut them down."
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