It’s historic – When Black students get school choice, they make progress

It’s Black History Month, and we’ve already looked at an example from Kentucky – which offers essentially no school choice to its public school students – of how the state’s Black students in particular have not made progress in over 30 years of KERA reforms.

Now, let’s see where some great Black history is happening in schools, namely charter schools in both Atlanta and Cleveland. The tables below show the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results for Black students in Atlanta and Cleveland from 2019.

As you can see, as of the last data before COVID really messed up education, Black students fortunate enough to attend public charter schools in both cities have outdistanced the Blacks in their city’s traditional public schools – and in the schools in Kentucky’s Jefferson County School District, as well.

It’s historic.

Given better education options, Black students can do better.

How much better? Well, a number of researchers who work with the NAEP say a difference of 10 NAEP Scale Score points is equivalent to an extra year of learning.

As we said, it’s historic.

NAEP scores obtained from the NAEP Data Explorer.

Richard Innes