IDEA Public School students participate in a small group instruction, a fundamental of IDEA's elementary academic model. Photo courtesy of IDEA.
Students at IDEA Public School, a charter school, participate in small-group instruction. Credit: Courtesy / IDEA Public Schools

A fresh academic school year brings new challenges to students returning to class after the summer break. For economically disadvantaged students in charter schools, one of the biggest challenges might be performing well on math assessments.

Data released earlier this month by the Texas Education Agency shows economically disadvantaged students perform worse on major math assessments in charter school districts in San Antonio than in public school districts.

According to an analysis of the data by the Rivard Report, 63 percent of charter school districts reported that their economically disadvantaged students — those who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals — did not meet the math standard for their grade level, compared to 47 percent of traditional public school districts.

In San Antonio, there are 15 public school districts and 22 charter school districts.

Economically disadvantaged students in charter school districts in San Antonio did perform slightly better than public school districts on reading assessments, however. About 47 percent of San Antonio charter school districts report that their economically disadvantaged students did not meet the reading standard for their grade level, compared to 53 percent of traditional public school districts.

Economically disadvantaged children struggle because they face fundamental challenges to basic needs, such as access to food and safe environments, said Brian Gottardy, North East Independent School District superintendent.

Some are coping with violence in their homes or neighborhoods, and most economically disadvantaged children come to school with few previous educational experiences, are malnourished, or live in a chaotic environments, Gottardy said.

“As a result, they begin school behind their peers who have had more positive environmental experiences,” he said. “From the very beginning, they are at a disadvantage.”

The number of economically disadvantaged students in Texas schools is increasing. During the last decade, enrollment of economically disadvantaged students in traditional Texas public schools rose by 3.5 percent and dropped in charter schools by 2.4 percent. Overall, the percentage of students identified as economically disadvantaged in the state has grown by about 4 percent since 2008.

Emily Royall is the Rivard Report's former data director.

2 replies on “Tierrabyte: Economically Disadvantaged Kids in Charter Schools Fare Worse on Math Exams”

  1. I assume the same article will also be published on this site with the headline “Economically Disadvantaged Kids in Charter Schools Fare Better on Reading Exams?” It shouldn’t, just as this headline should not have been used as clickbait.

    This article is an example of bias when using percentages of small populations, in this case school districts with very large differences in student populations. Using simplistic “met” and “not met” from districts of different populations and size to arrive at the headline conclusion is not a truthful fact, any more than the reading headline proposed above.

    You need to look behind the numbers at the districts, and at schools within districts to draw more accurate conclusions.

    Also, you could also have written your headline “Economically Disadvantaged Students Fare Worse on Math Exams at More Public School Districts than Charter School Districts.” 63.16% of 15 is lower than 46.67% of 22 (9.47 vs 10.27). Of course, that would also be a biased headline.

    Cheers!

  2. I have no evidence, but I believe two sets of circumstances may affect this statistic. If a disadvantaged child is functioning adequately in his home school then he probably will not be put in the charter school. Thus the Charter school may be serving some who have not done well in the home school.
    Also the statistics are skewed by public districts in more affluent sections of town. If the parents choose to live there then perhaps they are striving and have a culture of the importance of education in the home. The districts which are in less affluent sections of San Antonio are not meeting the math and reading standards.

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