No answers to charter school questions.

The charter school controversy abounds as a slew of recent reports fuel the fire of this spirited debate. How does the performance of charter school students compare to that of traditional pubic school students?

By definition, charter schools are public schools that operate independently of many local and state regulations. The Center for Education Reform, a Washington-based group that supports charters, estimates that there are nearly 3,000 charter schools serving close to a million students in 37 states and Washington, D.C.

Of the 40 states that have passed charter school laws, California (500), Arizona (491), Florida (258), Texas (241), and Michigan (210) top the list as the states with the largest number of operating charters, while Iowa (0), Maryland (0), New Hampshire (0), Mississippi (1), and Wyoming (1) have the fewest.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's 2004 report, Evaluation of the Public Charter Schools Program, charter schools, even when allowances were made for race and poverty, were less likely to meet state performance standards. The study looked at five states: Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and North Carolina. It found that in Texas, for example, 98 percent of public schools met state performance requirements, but only 66 percent of charter schools did. Even when adjusted for race and poverty, the study said, that charter schools fell short more frequently by a statistically significant amount.

The department recently analyzed how well fourth graders did on national assessment tests in reading and math. That study, America's Charter Schools, found that students at traditional public schools outperformed their charter school peers in math, but found no measurable differences in reading scores. However, the performance of fourth graders with similar racial and ethnic backgrounds saw no measurable difference in either math or reading.

Others, including Harvard economics Professor Caroline Hoxby, have found different results. She discovered in a national study that charter students were 4 percent more likely to have mastered reading and 2 percent more likely to have mastered math than students at the neighborhood schools.

Also of interest, the department of education found that the average size of charter schools in the 1999-2000 school year was significantly smaller than that of tradition public schools, with 169 and 458 students respectively. That study also found that charter schools had, on average, higher percentages of African American and Hispanic students, a larger proportion of students receiving free and reduced lunches, a slightly higher proportion of students with limited English proficiency, and a lower percentage of students requiring special educational services. Those statistics, however, are constantly changing.

Furthermore, the report found that charter school teachers are more likely to be African American, less likely to be fully certified (as defined by state policy), and have a higher participation rate in professional development. Similar to the charter school student enrollment trend, the proportion of African American teachers increased over the course of the study as the percentage of Caucasian teachers slightly decreased.

Consequently, with so many studies revealing different results, it may be too soon to compare charter schools to traditional ones. Since charter laws vary widely across the country, specific state studies that use new methodologies and the age old test of time may be the best hope for reliable data.

Washington state passed a new charter school law during the 2003-2004 legislative session, but voters rejected the legislature's plan for charter schools in a ballot measure in November.