Giving Compass' Take:

• For-profit charter school networks in Michigan are using the same approaches as non-profit charter schools and are performing very well. However, the for-profit charter schools (National Heritage Academies) are serving mostly white, female, and non-lower-income students, a contrast from the demographics who attend non-profit charter schools. 

• Should the success of this for-profit charter school mean that it is the best choice for students? How can for-profit charter networks start to serve similar demographics as non-profit? 

• Another aspect of the discussion of charter schools is the limited amount of information that parents have when applying for different charter schools. Perhaps an evaluation could help the schools become more regulated. 

One of the largest for-profit charter school networks in the country, National Heritage Academies, produces substantial gains in student achievement compared to traditional public schools in Michigan, according to a major new study circulated by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

If the overall environment in Michigan might suggest cause for concern, Dynarski and Jacob’s paper tells a different story. Students at the 48 Michigan NHA charters — most serving grades K-8 — tend to perform better in math than those at nearby traditional public schools.

The testing gains for NHA students are significant in and of themselves, but the authors also emphasize exactly who is achieving them. For-profit charter schools in Michigan, which comprise roughly two-thirds of all charters in the state, enroll proportionally fewer black students than nonprofits and are generally are less likely to be located in cities. But the difference at NHA is even more stark.

Between 2003 and 2015, NHA students were consistently more likely to be white (42.5 percent, versus 34 percent at charters overall), Asian (5.8 percent versus 2.9 percent), and Hispanic (9.2 percent versus 7.2 percent). They were less likely to be black (41.8 percent versus 54.8 percent) or economically disadvantaged (55 percent versus 71 percent).

While they differ from many nonprofit charters in terms of setting and demographics, National Heritage Academies often mirror them in approach. As part of the study, Dynarski and Jacob administered a survey to hundreds of charter and traditional schools that were open during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. They found that NHA schools shared academic and organizational features common to high-performing nonprofit charters, such as higher parental engagement levels, extra instructional time in certain subjects, frequent low-stakes assessments, a “No Excuses” school environment, and ability grouping.

Read the full article about high performing charter schools by Kevin Mahnken at The 74.