Public charter
schools, interdistrict magnet schools, and the Open Choice program are
collectively called Choice programs. One of their key missions is to improve
educational outcomes of historically underperforming students from
Connecticut’s urban public schools.
This analysis examines the academic growth
and outcome performance based on the Connecticut Mastery Tests (CMT) for Choice
program attendees from Connecticut’s four largest cities—Bridgeport, Hartford,
New Haven, and Waterbury—over a two-year period (2010 to 2012).
Results for each
Choice program group and its respective quasi-control groups were tracked and
compared longitudinally for the same students in two grade cohorts: 1.Grade 3
in 2010 to Grade 5 in 20122.Grade 6 in 2010 to Grade 8 in 2012The use of
longitudinal data allows us to ascribe academic performance gains over time to
the educational interventions that have taken place; additionally, comparing
gains achieved by the Choice program groups to their respective quasi-control
groups enables us to control for gains that might have occurred naturally due
to student maturation.
In the Grades 3 to 5
cohort, the analysis reveals statistically meaningful gains at or above the CMT
Proficient level in interdistrict magnet schools operated by regional
educational service centers (RESCs) and for the Open Choice program, and nearly
statistically meaningful gains at or above the CMT Goal level for the
RESC-operated interdistrict magnet schools.
In the Grades 6 to 8
cohort, public charter schools alone showed statistically meaningful gains at
or above Proficient and Goal levels on the CMT.
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