You may be confused by the dueling charter school studies that have appeared in recent months. If so, two new articles try to beam a light through that tangled forest. Jennifer Marshall and Kirk Johnson of the Heritage Foundation offer their views in National Review Online, stating plainly that "What does work is the approach Hoxby took" - meaning, the "matched pair" methodology that Harvard economist Caroline Hoxby employed in her recent study that concludes that charter students are, in most cases, meeting state standards at a slightly higher rate than pupils in neighboring district schools (click here for more). Gadfly won't argue with that. But Paul Hill's piece in Education Week is broader and more illuminating, offering a discussion of the tribulations of comparing public and charter schools. Hill's National Charter School Research Center is preparing a meta-study, which should shed further light on this lively and important issue. For now, you can consider two more views by clicking below.
"Grading schools," by Jennifer A. Marshall and Kirk A. Johnson, National Review Online, January 12, 2005
"Assessing student performance in charter schools," by Paul T. Hill, Education Week, January 12, 2005