Cerf said that he stands behind the controversial state data, which says 69 percent of charters outperform home districts in language arts Watch video
Christopher Cerf addresses the press after Governor Chris Christie announced Cerf, as his nominee for New Jersey Education Commissioner.TRENTON — Vowing to create "more transparency," acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf today said the state will ask an outside agency to analyze why some charter schools out-perform traditional public schools.
Speaking at a meeting of the state Board of Education, Cerf said "we stand by" controversial data about charter school performance released in January, but acknowledged that "deeper analysis" is necessary.
That data showed that 79 percent of charter schools outperformed district schools on math exams in the state’s poorest districts, and that 69 percent outperformed their home districts in language arts. Critics assailed the numbers, saying charter school test scores may have been higher than traditional public school scores in part because charters have fewer very poor students.
"They are what they are," Cerf said of the January data. "They are not what you might call nuanced."
Cerf said an independent analysis will be conducted "as quickly as is humanly possible." He also released an "interim report" on charter schools that he said "dispels the notion" that charter schools don’t serve special needs kids. And he presented data showing that there are poor children in charter schools.
In the Newark Public Schools district, for example, more than 70 percent of students are poor enough to receive free lunch, and about 10 percent receive reduced-price lunch. Meanwhile, in Newark’s charter schools, just under 60 percent quality for free lunch, and about 15 percent can receive reduced-price lunch, according to the report.
The report also looked at achievement for charter and district students in a number of districts, including Newark, Trenton, Camden and Jersey City . It showed that if special education and English as a second language students were removed from test scores, more charter schools outscored traditional schools.
The report also said the "charter advantage" appears to grow in higher grades
Cerf peppered his comments with references to "relentless press attention" paid to the charter school debate, including allusions to reports in The Star-Ledger.
"Charter schools are dramatically outstripping traditional public schools in Newark," he said, something that "the newspaper in Newark has failed to report."
Advocates for Children of New Jersey, in its 2010 Newark Kids Count report, said some Newark charter schools outperform state averages, as do some district schools. Some of both types of school also underperform.
"Charter schools are dramatically outstripping traditional public schools in Newark," Cerf said.
Cerf also promised to "increase transparency" and expand the quantity of data available online.
The report is available at www.state.nj.us/education/chartsch/research/interim.pdf
But the data released did not go one step further, to link specific performance on test scores to children at the different income level — showing, for example whether schools with a higher percentage of children receiving reduced-price lunch, compared to a free lunch, achieve higher test scores.
Cerf said New Jersey’s state aid formula, and federal accountability programs, do not distinguish between the two levels of poverty. "Most charters in New Jersey cross a threshold of concentrated poverty that makes these distinctions meaningless," the report read.
Critics disagree, however.
"They have no basis for arguing that this is a trivial distinction. This is spin," said Bruce Baker, an associate professor at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. He had commented widely on the January data and was, in fact, mentioned by Cerf at the meeting.
"The data just aren’t precise enough to make any reasonable conclusions about relative performance of charters versus district schools," Baker said. "Some of this is better than previous information, but there are certainly mis-statements and spin."
Baker said charter schools still serve many fewer special education students than public schools, and that the data on special ed does not break out how severe the children’s disabilities are.
Cerf said he is not an unqualified supporter of charter schools.
"I don’t believe all charter schools are good," he said. "The state’s core mission is to support traditional public schools"
Cerf’s report also included information on the charter landscape.
New Jersey will have nearly 100 charter schools operating in September — although Cerf also said that two schools were put on probation and one received a "stern warning."
He would not name the schools that got the letters, but department spokesman Alan Guenther said the letters will be released Tuesday.