Charter school students in grades three through eight are growing their proficiency levels in both English and Math classes according to the recently released 2022-23 New York State Assessment scores.
From 2022 to 2023, overall charter school student proficiency rates increased 17% in Math and 4% in ELA, according to the New York City Charter Center, a nonprofit. NYC charter school students overall scored 7 percentage points higher on the ELA exam (59% v. 52%) and 13 percentage points higher on the Math exam (63% v. 50%) compared to NYC district school students.
“For 25 years, New York City families have trusted charter schools with preparing their children for success in and out of the classroom, and it’s no surprise as to why: charter school students — many of whom come from historically underserved communities — consistently close proficiency gaps, outperform their peers, and excel year after year,” said James Merriman, chief executive of the New York City Charter Center.
New York City public charter schools serve an estimated 142,500 students in all five boroughs for the 2023-2024 school year. Ninety percent of these students are Black or Hispanic, 80 percent come from low-income families. Notably, Black charter school students are outperforming their district counterparts by 19 percentage points (59% vs. 40%) in ELA and by 27 percentage points (61% vs. 34%) in Math. While Hispanic charter school students outperformed their district counterparts by 16 percentage points (55% vs. 39%) in ELA and by 25 percentage points (61% vs. 36%) in Math.
