Dive Brief:
- The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools has announced that charter enrollment is up a total of 9% from last year, bringing the charter school student population to 2.9 million children.
- Critics say the new numbers shouldn't be trusted, since the organization inflated enrollment stats last year, reporting a 14% increase when it was only 7%.
- Despite the uncertainty, no other organization measures enrollment, and some experts say numbers that may or may not be faulty are better than no data at all on the 6,800 charter schools now operating in 42 states and the District of Columbia.
Dive Insight:
Charter school popularity continues to grow in the U.S., but scandals over accountability and school performance are also increasing. Over the past year, virtual schools in particular have come under the microscope, with a state investigation currently underway in California. Last fall, an in-depth Stanford University study widely viewed as the most comprehensive to date found that 70% of online charter students had fallen behind peers, with shortfalls equating to "losing 72 days of learning in reading and 180 days in math during the typical 180-day school year."
Ohio has also been rocked by charter oversight scandals, causing the federal government to rethink $70 million in federal funding toward the state's fast-growing charter sector.