The American Federation of Teachers circulated a study saying that charter schools are doing worse than traditional public schools, and the New York Times ran a front-pager practically declaring the case closed.(Brief Article)

* The American Federation of Teachers circulated a study saying that charter schools are doing worse than traditional public schools, and the New York Times ran a front-pager practically declaring the case closed. But education reformers questioned the findings. When you corrected for the racial makeup of the schools, the difference in test scores disappeared: Black students in charter schools are not doing worse than black students in traditional public schools, and the same is true for Hispanics. Also, it stands to reason that kids in charter schools are kids whose parents were dissatisfied with their previous schools--and they may be students with bigger problems. All that said, there has been something a bit too defensive about the reformers' response to the study. Charter students may be doing no worse ...