Mixed Results for Charters

NYT article of May 1, "Despite Push, Success at Charter Schools Is Mixed," by Trip Gabriel,
talks about mixed results for Charters. Thanks Mike P. for sending this my way.

Key idea: charters vary WIDELY in effect.

Key paragraph setting up that idea:

But for all their support and cultural cachet, the majority of the 5,000 or so charter schools nationwide appear to be no better, and in many cases worse, than local public schools when measured by achievement on standardized tests, according to experts citing years of research. Last year one of the most comprehensive studies, by researchers from Stanford University, found that fewer than one-fifth of charter schools nationally offered a better education than comparable local schools, almost half offered an equivalent education and more than a third, 37 percent, were “significantly worse.”