Across the state and nation there are bright spots that show us what is possible and should be studied and replicated, even if not perfect, to help more students succeed. This includes social-emotional supports for students, talent strategies and a range of other initiatives that have positively impacted schools and students. This report will focus on the charter school sector in Colorado and its impact on student academic learning, particularly for traditionally underserved students and in high-needs areas around the state.
It is not intended to say charters are the only strategy that works, nor that academics are the only outcomes that matter; rather, we are aiming to demonstrate that there are schools, including charters, helping students recover academically and we should continue to learn from them and others. Charter schools are public schools governed by an independent, non-profit board of directors given additional autonomies and held accountable through a contract with their authorizer.
In Colorado, the authorizers are either individual school districts or the Colorado Charter School Institute (“CSI”). While authorizer quality varies across both the state and the nation, this relationship allows schools to implement a model best suited to student needs while authorizers can hold schools accountable if goals are not met. In Colorado, where the charter sector is often held up as a model across the country, this has resulted in a charter sector that outperforms traditional schools, including in serving the highest-needs students and in communities lacking high-quality options.
Learning from these successes and replicating them where possible can only help all Colorado students. The successes seen in the charter sector in Colorado are echoed by a national study of charter school academic performance, which included Colorado, showing charter school students making more academic progress than their non-charter school peers across demographic groups.
Access the Keystone Policy Center's full report below.
